With offseason camps now underway leading up to the start of the 2022 NFL season, the anticipation to see the entire Minnesota Vikings roster hit the field is starting to build. The Vikings this year have some easier games and a few more difficult ones on the schedule. Before we know it, preseason play will begin and the regular season will be in full swing for the league.
Building on that excitement has been the release of the Madden NFL video game ratings for Minnesota players and the rest of the league. Madden NFL 2023 is set to be released on Aug. 19, but ratings and other information have appeared for players and teams.
EA Sports recently released its full ratings and rankings of players and teams. We now know what the video game creators think of Minnesota and its players.
What Madden NFL 23 Ratings Mean About Minnesota Vikings Roster
The Vikings ended up tied for the Pittsburgh Steelers with an overall team rating of 80. Minnesota was rated as having a defense worthy of an 82 rating, an offense rated at 80, and a special teams group at 72.
Initially, those ratings appear to be a little low. However, it’s understandable that the Vikings came out with those ratings after failing to reach the postseason the last two years. This could also be another example of some simply not having too high of expectations for Minnesota in 2022.
[pickup_prop id=”19315″]
When it comes to individual players, three Vikings earned ratings of 90 or higher. Nine players were also ranked 80 or better, with five offensive and five defensive players making up the list of top 10 players on the purple and gold.
Here’s the full top 10 list for the Vikings approaching the release of Madden 23:
- Dalvin Cook, running back – 94 overall
- Justin Jefferson, wide receiver – 93 overall
- Harrison Smith, safety – 90 overall
- Danielle Hunter, defensive end – 88 overall
- Eric Kendricks, linebacker – 88 overall
- Adam Thielen, wide receiver – 88 overall
- Za’Darius Smith, linebacker – 86 overall
- Brian O’Neill, offensive lineman – 82 overall
- Kirk Cousins, quarterback – 80 overall
- Patrick Peterson, cornerback – 78 overall
What the Player Ratings Mean
There are a few things you can pull away from the individual ratings handed out by Madden 23. The top takeaway is that Minnesota has some talented players on both sides of the ball.
It tells us the strength of the Vikings will be on defense as a group, but the Vikings have plenty of fire-power on offense directly reflected in the high rating of players on that side of the ball in the top 10 list.
The purple and gold have some key players some of the best in the league at their positions. Harrison Smith, Hunter, Kendricks, Za’Darius Smith, and Peterson are all on the top 10 list.
Offensively, a unit that could feature a pass-first mentality in 2022, that is an area where the big game-changing players reside headlined by Cook, Jefferson and Thielen. The video game confirms what we all already think, that Minnesota features some extremely talented young stars on offense.
It will be interesting to see how every aspect of the team performs this season with a new regime in place in 2022 at head coach and in the front office. Head coach Kevin O’Connell could turn this Vikings squad into more of an offensive-focused team, which is a different mindset the organization has had since 2014 under coach Mike Zimmer.
Madden 23 believes Minnesota certainly has some talent on both sides of the ball, which is reflected in its list of top 10 rated Vikings players. Overall as a team, Madden isn’t too high on Minnesota but has it as a middle-of-the-pack team. The Vikings will try to prove the video game creators and rankers wrong in the new year, which will be kicking off before we know it with the arrival of the regular season.
