TheQuartering [8/24/2021]
Yikes. Not much respect.
Football fans and analysts have spent the last four years arguing that Colin Kaepernick deserves another opportunity in the NFL. EA Sports and Madden NFL 22 are doing their best to single-handedly destroy that argument.
How could that be the case, you ask, when EA Sports continues including the NFC champion as a free agent in the game? All one needs to do is look at ratings and context to quickly realizing that those who work on the NFL’s only licensed video game have no respect for Kaepernick or their consumers.
Let’s make something immediately clear. EA Sports’ decision to include Kaepernick, who last played an NFL down on Jan. 1, 2017, in the game isn’t the issue. He hasn’t officially retired, and he worked out for teams in 2019, so this isn’t like the time they listed Calvin Johnson or Peyton Manning, both of whom are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in the game as free agents.
Instead, the problem is the game giving Kaepernick an 81 overall rating. For those unfamiliar with how Madden ratings work, players are rated on a 0-99 scale. Five players, including co-cover athlete Patrick Mahomes, had a 99 overall when the game launched in August 2021.
Kaepernick, who hasn’t played in nearly five years, is currently tied with Las Vegas Raiders veteran Derek Carr for the 14th-highest rating of any quarterback in the game. Los Angeles Chargers star Justin Herbert, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, is an 80 overall.