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A few weeks ago certain Madden 19 ratings were released, and they weren’t too kind to the Detroit Lions. Since then, Madden programmers have made it clear that these ratings are not final and that you can expect different ratings when the game actually drops in early August.
In those leaked rating, Darius Slay was the highest ranked Lions, with a mere 89 rating. Slay, himself, wasn’t too happy with the rating:
I gots to start in the 90’s this year.... most INTs an PBU’s.... Don’t play me @EAMaddenNFL https://t.co/cxf7MjIFkN
— Darius Slay (@_bigplayslay23) June 17, 2018
The Madden talk continued last week, as EA officially announced seven players will have a 99 rating in this year’s game: Tom Brady, Antonio Brown, Aaron Donald, Rob Gronkowski, Luke Kuechly, Von Miller and some dude named Aaron Rodgers.
Obviously, no Lions player was among the 99-rated crowd, but NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt thought there should have been. He half-jokingly said that he thought long-snapper Don Muhlbach should have earned the honor of being in the 99 crew.
There are 7 players rated as 99 in #Madden19 but what other player deserves a top rating in @EAMaddenNFL?@89SteveSmith➡@juliojones_11@KyleBrandt➡Don Muhlbach@PSchrags➡@chanjones55@ColleenWolfeNFL➡@TG3II pic.twitter.com/7fb32BQPe0
— GMFB (@gmfb) June 29, 2018
While Brandt is probably exaggerating here, it brings up an interesting question. Who should be the Lions’ highest-rated player? It’s not necessarily the Lions’ best player, but rather, the best player at his respective position. So today’s Question of the Day is:
Who should be the highest-rated Lions player in Madden 19?
My answer: I think it should still probably be Darius Slay, considering he is arguably a top five cornerback in the league.
But there are other Lions that belong in the conversation here. Matt Prater remains one of the most reliable kickers in the league, especially from 50+ yards. I know it’s early in his career, but Jamal Agnew could arguably be 90s-rated player as a returner. You could make an argument that the forever-overlooked Glover Quin deserves to be one of the highest rated free safeties in the league, too. And let’s not forget about Matthew Stafford, who has played like a borderline top five quarterback over the past three seasons.
Still, it has to be Slay for me. He’s not only the best player at his respective position, but he is continually getting better every year. Working with the best cornerbacks in the league during the slowest part of the offseason is a perfect example of Slay’s commitment to improvement.
Your turn.