EA Sports has finally put the full Madden ratings out there, and for the most part, the former West Virginia players on the roster landed where you’d expect.
Nine ex-Mountaineers are in the game right now, though there could still be one or two more additions before the end of August. At the top of the list is Zach Frazier, who checks in as the highest-rated former WVU player at 85 for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Right behind him is Colton McKivitz at 81 with the San Francisco 49ers.
Here’s how the rest of the group stacks up: Dante Stills of the Arizona Cardinals and Wyatt Milum of the Jacksonville Jaguars are both at 71, followed by Geno Smith of the New York Jets at 72. David Sills V, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is rated 69. Tony Fields II of the Chicago Bears comes in at 67, Austin Brinkman of the Houston Texans at 65, and Rex Sunahara of the Cleveland Browns rounds it out at 58.
There’s not much in that group to argue with. EA seems to have nailed both the order and, mostly, the ratings themselves, especially when you compare it to what it did with West Virginia’s roster in College Football 27.
The one place that stands out a bit is the close gap between Milum and Stills. Stills has already built up a couple years of solid production, while Milum was mostly a backup as a rookie last season and saw limited snaps, which is expected to be the case again this year.
Smith’s rating took a hit, dropping eight points from last year’s game after a rough season with the Las Vegas Raiders. Since the Jets aren’t projected to be very strong, there’s a path for him to climb a little if he can give them steady play this fall.
A few former Mountaineers aren’t in the game yet: Garrett Greene with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Doug Nester with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chase Wilson with the New York Jets, Michael Coats Jr. with the Cleveland Browns, and Rasul Douglas with the Washington Commanders.
Greene and Nester spent all of last season on practice squads, while Wilson and Coats Jr. signed as undrafted free agents, so their absences make sense. Douglas is the odd one out.
He’s been in the league for nearly a decade and has been one of the NFL’s more productive cornerbacks, so even though he didn’t sign with Washington until July 9th, you’d think that still would have been early enough to get him in. At the very least, he should have been listed as a free agent.
He should be in the game before it’s all said and done.
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West Virginias roster planning has picked up an extra layer of uncertainty as Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan look to extend their college careers. Their eligibility status matters well beyond the paperwork, because the Mountaineers are trying to map out a future under Ross Hodge while holding enough flexibility to manage what comes next in the frontcourt and beyond.
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