San Francisco 49ers: Which players did Madden overrate and underrate?
By Justin Fried
The San Francisco 49ers’ 2019 Madden ratings have been revealed and while they aren’t as head-scratching as some other teams, there are still a few players who were overrated and underrated.
The San Francisco 49ers are now only a week or so away from the start of training camp as is a tradition in mid-to-late July. Another tradition this time of year that always seems to get fans riled up is the annual reveal of that year’s Madden ratings.
It’s always a controversial time of year as fans tend to feel that their team received the short end of the stick and that their favorite players were disrespected with their ratings.
In reality, overall ratings mean very little in the game as the collection of individual attribute ratings tell much more about the player than his aggregate final output. But harping on those isn’t nearly as fun.
The 49ers had their fair share of players who received questionable ratings, to say the least. And even though some other teams saw their roster flooded with curious ratings more so than San Francisco, there are still a few players who we feel were misrated.
As such, let’s take a look at three 49ers players who we feel were underrated and two who we feel were overrated.
Underrated: TE George Kittle
Usually, it’s not fair to nitpick with Madden ratings as one or two overall points doesn’t always make a major difference at the end of the day. But sometimes those one or two overall point differentials are too egregious to ignore.
49ers tight end George Kittle was rated a 90 overall by Madden which on the surface doesn’t seem to bad. It’s only when you compare that rating with his peers that things get a little questionable.
Kittle was ranked as the fourth-best tight end in the game. All-Pros Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz occupy the top two spots — both very much deserving candidates.
But the third-best tight end in the game — and a player two overall points higher than Kittle — is Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker.
Walker at one point was deserving of such a rating. But after missing all of last year, it’s fair to question what the soon-to-be 35-year-old still has left in the tank.
Kittle posted ridiculous numbers last season hauling in 88 catches for a whopping 1,377 yards and five touchdowns. Walker has been a very good player, but he’s only even topped 1,000 yards once in his career and that came back in 2015.
On top of that, the players below Kittle are solid players, but the gap between them should be greater than it really is. Jordan Reed and Tyler Eifert are just two points below Kittle while Trey Burton is only three points lower than him.
Reed is the only one of those three players to ever even top 600 yards in a season making their ratings questionably high. Or perhaps, Kittle is simply far too low.
Ranking him in the tier of Kelce and Ertz would have been a lot more appropriate. Instead, he’s closer to the tier of Reed, Eifert, and Burton which simply doesn’t make sense.