Well, we now know who the Madden 25 cover athlete is. It’s San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. With that out of the way, the next step is to see those Detroit Lions player ratings. Last year they started to come out in mid July. There were some questionable decisions ahead of the season last year. For some, it didn’t get much better as the year went on. For others it did.
Here’s five Lions that absolutely should have a big jump in Madden ratings when they come out in July.
Penei Sewell
Starting off with the big dog here. Sewell’s initial Madden 24 grade last year was 86. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. By the end of the year he had a grade of 94. Now that he’s been put on the All-Pro first team and only allowed a single sack in 2023, it’s time for the Lions to have a player join the 99 club.
No offensive lineman made that club last year. The closest was Trent Williams with a 98 grade. If you want to include him in the 99 club too, that’s fine. But Sewell has more than shown that he’s the best tackle in football. It’s time Madden gives him some respect.
Aidan Hutchinson
Hutchinson’s initial grade last year was 81. Super low for a Rookie of the Year contender. He worked his way up to an 88. The only argument we have here is that he starts at a 90 in Madden 25. That’s not too crazy to ask for. His performance showed he should he there.
Jared Goff
I’m not going to make an argument to bring Goff into the 90’s. Only five QB’s were in the 90’s last year and four of them deserved to be. Goff at least needs to be in the upper 80’s this time. he outperformed guys like Tua Tagovailoa and Kirk Cousins who all got rated higher than him.
Goff’s initial grade was 80. Despite finishing near the top in every major passing category, he had only gone up to 82 by the end of the year. A fair grade for Goff to start off with in 2025 is 86. That’s not too crazy.
Sam LaPorta
This was by far the weirdest one from last season. LaPorta’s initial grade was 70. Totally understandable. It was his rookie season and rookie tight ends usually struggle. By the end of the season he had put forth a historical rookie season for a tight end and made second team All-Pro and the Pro Bowl. He moved up to 82.
82 isn’t horrible at first glance, but then you see David Njoku, Evan Engram, Dallas Goedert, Darren Waller, Dalton Schultz, Kyle Pitts, Gerald Everett, Pat Friermuth and Cole Kmet ahead of him, you wonder what the hell happened? LaPorta was easily better than most of these guys and he still wound up the 14th rated tight end.
He needs to be a 90 to start. If not that, at least higher than all the guys he outperformed. Seriously, how did Goedert get an 86?
Alex Anzalone
Not asking for a lot here. I know I titled this “big jumps,” but here’s a smaller one. Anzalone has to at least be an 80. He started out at 73 last season and wound up with 79. We’re just saying he should start out with one extra rating point. He earned it.