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I stumbled upon this video released today listing all the newest Madden player ratings for the Houston Texans, including all the rookies. You can watch below or just check out the ratings I listed.
Madden 2015 Player Ratings - Houston Texans
Rookies in Italics
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick - 78
Case Keenum - 74
Tom Savage - 63 RB Arian Foster - 94
Andre Brown - 78
Dennis Johnson - 71
Alfred Blue - 60
FB Jay Prosch - 74 TE Garrett Graham - 79
Ryan Griffin - 71
C.J. Fiedorowcz - 71 WR Andre Johnson - 96
DeAndre Hopkins - 78
Mike Thomas - 73
Keshawn Martin - 69 DeVier Posey - 68 Alan Bonner - 62
LT Duane Brown - 96
LG Xavier Su'a-Filo - 75 David Quessenberry - 69 C Chris Myers - 89 Ben Jones - 71
RG Brandon Brooks - 80
RT Derek Newton - 73 Brennan Williams - 71 |
LDE J.J. Watt - 99
Ricardo Mathews - 71 Jared Crick - 71
RDE Jadeveon Clowney - 85
Tim Jamison - 74
Jerrell Powe - 61 DT
Louis Nix, III - 75 Jeoffrey Pagan - 60 OLB
Brooks Reed - 78 Whitney Mercilus - 80 Trevardo Williams - 63 ILB
Brian Cushing - 91
Jeff Tarpinian - 64 Mike Mohamed - 63 CB
Johnathan Joseph - 88
Kareem Jackson - 80
Brandon Harris - 72
Elbert Mack - 69 A.J. Bouye - 65
Andre Hal - 63
SS
D.J. Swearinger - 76 Eddie Pleasant - 72 FS
Chris Clemons - 81
Kendrick Lewis - 80
Shiloh Keo - 75
Lonnie Ballentine - 63 |
There are some errors on the depth chart, but there's your Texans roster for the upcoming Madden. The lack of any quarterback with an overall greater than 80 is a little scary, but you have to play within a player's constraints. Forget streak routes and deep outs. Stick to slants, quick outs and comebacks. True to their real-life counterparts, this team is not built to sling it all over the field in 4-wide sets, but it can absolutely dominate running the ball. There was no greater feeling for me last year slaying 49ers and Seahawks cheesers with the lowly 73 OVR Texans.
Arian Foster is notoriously hard to bring down in this game and he'll be the go-to guy for anyone using this team, as he should be. Brandon Brooks has gotten a boost in ratings and should help keep the running game strong along with Xavier Su'a Filo. Duane Brown is an absolute bull-dozer on running plays, too. Run run run with the Texans. If they update their playbook to something more O'Brien-flavored, there should be plenty of traps, counters and power runs now, but zone stretches should still be dangerous.
Still, if you need to pass, Andre Johnson still possesses superior route-running and catch-in-traffic abilities making him the ideal target on third downs (or any down, really). DeAndre Hopkins doesn't get quite as open but his hands are reliable if your opponent is focusing coverage on Johnson. The addition of Mike Thomas makes 3-WR sets more viable if you have need of them.
The loss of Owen Daniels hurts a bit, but Garrett Graham is a decent replacement. He's quick enough to get open against linebackers and has good catching traits. Truthfully most tight ends are fast enough to get open against LBs, making them the favorites of User double teams. I'm curious to see Fiedorowicz's run block ratings, too. I might upgrade him to TE1 and make Graham the TE2 motion-man.
On defense, the chasm between Brian Cushing and the next inside linebacker will force me to move Brooks Reed over, even if the real Texans decide not to. Jadeveon Clowney's 85 OVR rating is exciting to think about. Putting him right behind Watt creates tons of possibilities for blitzes. At the very least, stopping the run should be all too easy with the Texans with Louis Nix clogging up the middle.
I'll miss patrolling the secondary with the speedy Danieal Manning, but Clemons should be worthy. If Lonnie Ballentine is as physically gifted as we've heard, I might upgrade him on the depth chart and User him on defense. Hopefully, Romeo Crennel can mine some value out of Brandon Harris or Andre Hal (and get them a boost) because the cornerbacks after Kareem Jackson are horrid.
Anyway, enough of my nerd rant; I know that Madden is a pretty divisive topic. You either hate it or love it, and I am definitely in the latter group. Any thoughts on these ratings, BRB? Will you be picking up this year's slightly-different-but-still-60-dollar version of the only NFL-licensed video game on the market?
Hit me up if you're on the 360. GT: DrunkenSmuggler.