A group of rookie wide receivers in the NFL have been taking a look at their ratings for Madden 23, and it brought out some interesting reactions. 

There is an awful lot that comes with being in the NFL, whether it be the fame, the money, the prestige, the list is more or less endless, and for a lot of players this past offseason a lot of that is finally set to become a reality for them. 

However one additional thing that also comes with making the move from college to the professional game is that you get to be featured, and play as yourself if you’re that way inclined, in the Madden video game series.

But whilst a player might want to start putting up ‘video game numbers’ when they get into the season as they make their mark on the league, there are some video game numbers that they can already look at, and that’s what they are going to be rated at in various categories. 

Slowly getting a picture

Whilst the game isn’t set to be released for another month or so, there are some details that are being released early. For instance, wide receiver Davante Adams found out that he will be part of the famous ‘99 club’, which means that his overall rating in the game will be 99, the highest that it can be and there are set to be a few more of those along the way as EA patiently reveals players ratings over the coming days. 

But broken down amongst that rating will be a number of smaller categories such as speed, tackling, strength, all various traits that will be important for a player’s position and what they need to make an impact in the game.

Following the hiatus of the NCAA College Football series, this will be the first chance that a lot of NFL rookies will have to play as themselves in a game, but before they do that though, EA had them guess what their ratings are going to be.

Finding out the hard way

In a segment on social media hosted by former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson (or Chad Ochocinco depending on how you preferred to remember him), Johnson asked a number of rookie wide receivers - who stole the show in this year’s draft with 19 taken in total and 6 taken in the first round - where they thought they fell out of 99 in terms of catching, speed and overall rating.

Some were close, some were way off:

It’s only going to be a matter of time really before we get to see whether or not the developers were right, and you get the feeling that some might have a point to prove when the season kicks off.