Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski get the maximum OVR 99 in newly released Madden NFL ratings

Two weeks ago, a video was posted by YouTuber Miguel “Gator” Lozada in which he presents each team’s top rated players for the upcoming Madden NFL 19 video game. According to EA Sports’ Associate Creative Designer Andre Weingarten, however, the ratings shared by Lozada were neither final nor accurate. Yesterday, Madden officially released its first ratings by creating an elite Madden 99 Club.

In total, there will be seven players in the game that will receive the maximum overall rating of 99 points. The New England Patriots are the only team to have two players on the list:

QB Tom Brady (New England Patriots)

TE Rob Gronkowski (New England Patriots)

QB Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers)

LB Von Miller (Denver Broncos)

LB Luke Kuechly (Carolina Panthers)

WR Antonio Brown (Pittsburgh Steelers)

DE Aaron Donald (Los Angeles Rams)

The ratings above seem more reasonable than the ones leaked two weeks ago in which Brady and Gronkowski had overall ratings of 96 and 92, respectively. While Brady was the fourth best player in Lozada’s video – behind 99ers Rodgers, Donald and Brown – he now joins the trio as well as Miller, Kuechly and Gronkowski in the club of the best players in Madden NFL 19.

Brady’s 99 overall rating is made out of multiple sub-ratings that also have him get the maximum points: The soon-to-be 41-year old earns a 99 rating in the categories Awareness, Stamina, Play Action and Throw Accuracy. Furthermore, his abilities to throw under pressure get a 96 grade. On the flip side, Brady’s Catch rating took a hit after the Super Bowl and fell from 45 to 38 and is now back up to 39.

Gronkowski is similarly dominant in the different categories: He leads all tight ends in the (video) game in Stiff Arm (87), Trucking (86), Catch in Traffic (97), and Release (94). He also is tied for the lead among tight ends – likely but not yet announced with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce or the Seattle Seahawks’ Jimmy Graham – with a 94 Spectacular Catch rating.