Colts Madden-style player ratings — Week 2

The Madden rating series is back for a 3rd season!!! In this series on Stampede Blue, I’m going to break down each player on a 50-100 Madden-style scale each week to help identify and illustrate which players are the best and most valuable to the team. Please note that these are current values and don’t consider the value or future improvement/potential (or regression) of a player. Here is a breakdown of the tiers:

Tiers

95 to 100 — One of the 3 or 4 best players at his position in the NFL

90 to 94 — An elite, top 10 NFL player at his position in the NFL

85 to 89 — A borderline elite player who will make plenty of plays in each game

80 to 84 — An above-average starter

75 to 79 — An average starter

70 to 74 — An average starter who should only be used in small spurts

65 to 69 — A below-average starter and above-average backup

60 to 64 — An average backup

60 or below — A borderline roster player

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Quarterbacks

Matt Ryan — 85 (-1)

Nick Foles — 74

Sam Ehlinger — 67

Running Backs

Jonathan Taylor — 98

Nyheim Hines — 81

Deon Jackson — 63

Wide Receivers

Michael Pittman Jr — 88 (+1)

Parris Campbell — 71 (-1)

Ashton Dulin — 70

Alec Pierce — 69 (-2)

Michael Strachan — 68 (+1)

Dezmon Patmon — 66

Tight Ends

Mo Alie-Cox — 81

Jelani Woods — 69

Kylen Granson — 68

Offensive Line

Quenton Nelson — 97

Braden Smith — 83 (-1)

Ryan Kelly — 79

Matt Pryor — 71 (-2)

Danny Pinter — 70 (-1)

Bernhard Raimann — 67 (+2)

Dennis Kelly — 66

Will Fries — 63

Wesley French — 62

Luke Tenuta - 62

Defensive Line

DeForest Buckner — 97

Grover Stewart — 90 (+1)

Yannick Ngakoue — 84 (-1)

Kwity Paye — 81

Tyquan Lewis — 75

Dayo Odeyingbo — 71

Ben Banogu — 69

Eric Johnson — 68

Byron Cowart — 66

Ifeadi Odenigbo — 66

Linebackers

Darius Shaquille Leonard — 97

Bobby Okereke — 81

Zaire Franklin — 73

E.J. Speed — 72 (+2)

Jojo Domann — 64

Grant Stuard — 62

Secondary

Stephon Gilmore — 88 (+1)

Kenny Moore III — 86 (-2)

Julian Blackmon — 76 (-3)

Isaiah Rodgers — 76

Nick Cross — 73

Rodney McCleod — 72

Brandon Facyson — 70

Rodney Thomas II — 67

Dallis Flowers — 63

Tony Brown — 63

Armani Watts — 68 (Injured Reserve)

Special Teams

Luke Rhodes — 87

Matt Haack — 81 (+1)

Rigoberto Sanchez — 85 (Injured Reserve)

Biggest Mover

EJ Speed

Speed replaced Darius Leonard and looked great. He used good speed (no pun intended) off the edge to generate pressure, he was sound on his tackling and did a great job in the run game. He should still get some rotational reps, even with Leonard back, but either way the Colts have a reliable backup in him.

Biggest Dropper

Julian Blackmon

Blackmon looked like a guy coming off an Achilles tear. He was late to react, slow out of his cuts and didn’t cover space too well. Let’s hope this is just a temporary thing because he looked unplayable last game and that will be a big issue against teams like the Chiefs or Broncos who have incredible deep ball quarterbacks.