Lamar Jackson was basically a cheat code in last year's "Madden". After an MVP season, and with his likeness on the cover, Jackson is even better.
The "Madden 21" player ratings are being released this week, and as one would expect, Jackson ranks prominently in them.
Jackson was given the game's fastest speed rating (96) among quarterbacks by far. The next fastest quarterback behind Jackson is Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals (91), followed by Taysom Hill of the New Orleans Saints (90), Marcus Mariota of the Las Vegas Raiders (88) and former Ravens quarterback Tyrod Taylor (87) of the Los Angeles Chargers.
As for overall rankings, Jackson is rated the third-best overall quarterback with rating of 94, trailing top-rated quarterback Patrick Mahomes (99) of the Kansas City Chiefs and Russell Wilson (97) of the Seattle Seahawks.
Some will argue that Jackson should be rated even higher overall. He beat out Mahomes and Wilson to win the MVP award last season, and Jackson led the league in touchdown passes (36) while setting the single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback.
Mahomes led the Chiefs to a victory in the Super Bowl after winning the MVP award in 2019, and Jackson hopes to follow that same path in 2020 by leading Baltimore to a Super Bowl victory.
Jackson had an overall quarterback rating of 79 last year in Madden, another illustration of how quickly Jackson has changed the narrative about his play. Clearly, Jackson will be among the most popular quarterback choices for Madden players this year.
