We're back with week two of our look at potential superstars in Madden. This week, we are looking at the defensive side of the ball.
Defensive Ends
Mario Williams - 95 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, average awareness, average tackling, excellent power and finesse moves, average block shedding, excellent pursuit, poor play recognition.
Tyson Jackson - 77 OVR, Average speed and acceleration, average awareness, excellent tackling, good power moves, and average finesse moves, excellent block shedding, average pursuit and play recognition.
Michael Johnson - 72 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, terrible awareness, average tackling, average power and finesse moves, average block shedding, average pursuit, terrible play recognition.
My Top Picks: There are not many players to choose from in the "A" potential category, but there are many players to choose from a level below that.
My Pick: Tyson Jackson. My second pick is not on the list (Gaines Adams).
Sedrick Ellis - 85 OVR, Average speed and very good acceleration, excellent strength, above-average awareness, good tackling, good power moves, very good finesse moves, very good block shedding, good pursuit, average play recognition.
Domata Peko - 83 OVR, Average speed and good acceleration, excellent strength, good awareness, good tackling, very good power moves and average finesse moves, excellent block shedding, above-average pursuit, below-average play recognition.
B.J. Raji - 79 OVR, Average speed and OK acceleration, excellent strength, poor awareness, good tackling, very good power moves and above-average finesse moves, very good block shedding, above-average pursuit and play recognition.
Pat Sims - 77 OVR, Average speed and very good acceleration, excellent strength, average awareness, very good power moves and poor finesse moves, above-average block shedding and play recognition, below-average play recognition.
Jarron Gilbert - 65 OVR, Average speed and very good acceleration, average strength, terrible awareness, below-average tackling, above-average power moves and very good power moves, average block shedding, terrible play recognition.
My Top Picks: Sedrick Sims is a well-rounded player and will be rated in the 90s by the second season. B.J. Raji is powerful and will be a top DT in two seasons along with Pat Sims.
My Pick: Sedrick Ellis. Second pick is B.J. Raji.
Lamarr Woodley - 85 OVR, Good speed and very good acceleration, good strength, good awareness, good tackling, excellent power moves and above-average finesse moves, excellent block shedding and pursuit, and good play recognition.
Aaron Curry - 84 OVR, Very good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average strength and awareness, very good tackling, above-average power moves and very good finesse moves, good block shedding, excellent pursuit and good play recognition.
Keith Rivers - 83 OVR, Very good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average strength and awareness, very good tackling, average power moves and finesse moves, good block shedding, excellent pursuit and above-average play recognition.
Brian Cushing - 82 OVR, Good speed, very good acceleration and strength, above-average awareness, very good tackling, above-average power moves and average finesse moves, good block shedding, excellent pursuit and above-average play recognition.
Rey Maualuga - 81 OVR, Good speed and very good acceleration, above-average strength, average awareness, very good tackling, very good power moves and above-average finesse moves, very good block shedding, excellent pursuit and above-average play recognition.
Clay Matthews - 78 OVR, Good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average strength, good tackling, good power moves, above-average finesse moves and block shedding, good pursuit and above-average play recognition.
Brian Orakpo - 76 OVR, Good speed and very good acceleration, good strength, average awareness, good tackling, very good power moves and average finesse moves, very good block shedding, excellent pursuit, average play recognition.
Robert Ayers - 75 OVR, Good speed, acceleration and strength, average awareness, good tackling and power moves, average finesse moves, very good block shedding, excellent pursuit, and good play recognition.
Larry English - 74 OVR, Good speed and acceleration, above-average strength, average awareness, above-average tackling and power moves, very good finesse moves, above-average block shedding, excellent pursuit and above-average play recognition.
My Top Picks: Tough list to choose from as all these players are either already good or will be amazing in the future. You can trade for any one of these players, but you will have to give up top draft picks for all the top rookies. I would look at Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga and the powerful Brian Orakpo.
My Pick: Keith Rivers. Second pick is Rey Maualuga. Brian Orakpo would be there as I would move him to LE.
Patrick Willis - 99 OVR, Excellent speed, strength, acceleration, awareness, tackling, above-average power and finesse moves, excellent block shedding, pursuit and play recognition.
Jon Beason - 94 OVR, Good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average strength, excellent awareness and tackling, average power and finesse moves, very good block shedding, excellent pursuit and play recognition.
Jerod Mayo - 88 OVR, Good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average strength and awareness, excellent tackling, average power and finesse moves, excellent block shedding, pursuit and good play recognition.
Curtis Lofton - 86 OVR, Above-average speed and strength, good acceleration and awareness, excellent tackling, average power and finesse moves, excellent block shedding and pursuit, very good play recognition.
Paul Posluszny - 82 OVR, Above-average speed, strength and acceleration, good awareness, excellent tackling, average power and finesse moves, good block shedding, very good pursuit and excellent play recognition.
Lawrence Timmons - 79 OVR, Good speed, excellent acceleration, above-average strength and awareness, good tackling, very good power moves, excellent finesse moves, above-average block shedding, excellent pursuit, and average play recognition.
James Laurinaitis - 78 OVR, Above-average speed and strength, good acceleration, above-average awareness, excellent tackling, below-average power moves, average finesse moves, good block shedding, excellent pursuit, and very good play recognition.
Tavares Gooden - 66 OVR, Very good speed, excellent acceleration, average strength and awareness, above-average tackling, average power moves, finesse moves, block shedding, excellent pursuit, average play recognition.
My Top Picks: One standout player for me is Lawrence Timmons. He is very good at pretty much everything and has great speed. Tavares Gooden would be excellent on special teams, and his overall rating is very deceiving because he will eventually be a beast of a player.
My Pick: Lawrence Timmons. Tavares Gooden is my second pick, and he is definitely one to watch as the years progress.
Darrelle Revis - 96 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, very good awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, very good play recognition, excellent man and zone coverage, very good press coverage.
Leon Hall - 86 OVR, Very good speed and acceleration, above-average awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, good play recognition, very good man, zone and press coverage.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - 85 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, above-average awareness, poor tackling, average pursuit and play recognition, excellent man coverage, good zone coverage, average pressing.
Aqib Talib - 84 OVR, Very good speed, excellent acceleration, average awareness, poor tackling, above-average pursuit, average play recognition, very good man coverage, good zone coverage, very good press coverage.
Tracy Porter - 83 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, above-average awareness, poor tackling, above-average pursuit and play recognition, very good man coverage, good zone coverage, above-average press coverage.
Brandon Flowers - 81 OVR, Good speed, excellent acceleration, above-average awareness, below-average tackling, excellent pursuit, above-average play recognition, very good man and zone coverage, and above-average press coverage.
Sean Smith - 80 OVR, Very good speed and acceleration, average awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, average play recognition, very good man coverage, above-average zone coverage, very good press coverage.
Leodis Mckelvin - 80 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, average awareness, average tackling, above-average pursuit, average play recognition, very good man coverage, good zone coverage, above-average press coverage.
Antoine Cason - 78 OVR, Very good speed and excellent acceleration, above-average awareness, below-average tackling, good pursuit, average play recognition, good man and zone coverage, below-average press coverage.
Josh Wilson - 77 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, average awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, average play recognition, good man, zone and press coverage.
Malcolm Jenkins - 75 OVR, Good speed, excellent acceleration, below-average awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, average play recognition, good man, zone and press coverage.
My Top Picks: Aqib Talib is getting better and better -- his rating has gone up a lot since Madden was first released. Tracy Porter has excellent speed. Brandon Flowers is a very good cornerback, and his ratings will rise dramatically after just one season.
My Pick: Brandon Flowers. Second Pick was a close one, but I will go with speed and that is Tracy Porter.
LaRon Landry - 87 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, above-average awareness, good tackling, excellent pursuit, average play recognition and man coverage, good zone coverage, below-average press coverage.
Michael Griffin - 86 OVR, Very good speed, excellent acceleration, above-average awareness, average tackling, good pursuit, above-average play recognition and man coverage, good zone coverage and above-average press coverage.
Tanard Jackson - 86 OVR, Very good speed and acceleration, average awareness, above-average tackling, good pursuit, above-average play recognition and man coverage, excellent zone coverage and average press coverage.
Eric Weddle - 84 OVR, Good speed, very good acceleration, good awareness, good tackling, excellent pursuit, above-average play recognition, average man coverage, above-average zone coverage, poor press coverage.
My Top Picks: Not many to choose from as this is a unique position, but you can move players who are cornerbacks to free safety as long as they are good at zone coverage. LaRon Landry would be my top choice here. Eric Weddle is also a very underrated player.
My Pick: Laron Landry.
Kenny Phillips - 78 OVR, Excellent speed and acceleration, below-average awareness, above-average tackling, very good pursuit, poor play recognition, average man coverage, good zone coverage, below-average press coverage.
Tyrell Johnson - 75 OVR, Very good speed and excellent acceleration, below-average awareness, above-average tackling, good pursuit, below-average play recognition, average man coverage, above-average zone coverage and terrible press coverage.
My Top Pick: To be honest, I would not go for either of these players. I would go to the free agency list and get Derrick Brooks, who is a 77 overall ROLB with a B rating. Edit his position from ROLB to SS and he will go up to 91 overall and have A potential. I would use him for one year if I need a strong safety and then look for someone new in the Draft or free agency.
My Pick: Derrick Brooks.
This article was originally penned by Brad from AskMadden.com, it is one of many articles in a continuing series highlighting ways to improve your game in Madden NFL 10. Check out AskMadden for more great tips, hints, and strategies!
