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Launch ratings for players in EA Sports’ annual football sim, Madden NFL 26, are being drip fed out to the public ahead of the game’s release.
Ratings for the league’s newest batch of rookies were released Wednesday, and the Green Bay Packers’ first-round pick did not seem too enamored with one of his ratings. Despite running the 40-yard dash in a blazing 4.29 seconds at the NFL scouting combine, the fastest mark of any receiver, Matthew Golden has been awarded a speed rating of just 91 in this year’s game.
There are 17 rookie receivers with a higher speed rating than Golden, with Dont’e Thornton of the Raiders receiving the highest rating, a 96. Thornton ran a 4.30 in the 40.
Golden seemed to express his displeasure with his speed score in a now deleted post on X, which simply contained three laughing emojis. His speed had been a talking point pre-draft, with the 40 time surprising many experts who did not see that type of explosive speed on tape.
Among the other notable receivers with higher speed ratings than Golden were Chicago’s Luther Burden III, Houston’s Jaylin Noel, New England’s Kyle Williams, Kansas City’s Jalen Royals and Seattle’s Tory Horton, none of whom ran within a tenth of a second of Golden’s 40 time.
Golden did receive an elite rating for acceleration of 97, which tracks with his 10-yard split which ranked in the 99th percentile compared to his positional peers since the inception of the combine.
In terms of his overall rating, Golden received a 76, which is tied for second among receivers with Burden, and just one rating point behind Tetairoa McMillan, who was the first wideout drafted with the exception of Travis Hunter, who has an 84 overall rating but is listed as a cornerback.
Green Bay’s second-round pick Anthony Belton is rated 71 overall at launch; seventh among offensive tackles, which aligns with where he was drafted. Third-rounder Savion Williams has a 70 overall rating, tied for 15th among receivers, and has a speed score of 90.
Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver, drafted one after each other in the fourth and fifth round respectively, also both have an overall rating of 70, with Oliver’s 87 speed and 90 acceleration standing out at the EDGE position.
Sixth-round pick Warren Brinson is rated 66 overall, while seventh-rounders Micah Robinson and John Williams have ratings of 67 and 63 respectively.
The ratings for undrafted rookies Tyler Cooper (64) and Jamon Johnson (63) have also been revealed, but there is no sign of a rating for Brinson’s Georgia teammate Nazir Stackhouse, who has already turned heads at training camp, or Canadian quarterback Taylor Elgersma.
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