QBs: Andrew Luck
Love the 97 throw power with his mobility. I hate the low throw deep accuracy. It will frustrate you. I used Tom Brady’s 90 card for a long time and his 87 throw deep missed quite a few game changing completions. You know, the ones where your WR is behind the defense. But if throwing deep isn’t your game, Luck is your guy.
Andy Dalton:
A really good balanced QB with 95 throw power, 96 short, 91 mid and 90 deep. Mobility is very usable. But I wouldn’t say he excels in one area over another. Get Dalton if you need an omnitool. Someone who can do most everything for you.
WR’s
Tavon Austin. Speed and moves like Jagger. 97 speed, 96 accel, 99 agility, 96 elusiveness, 96 spin, 99 juke, 92 route and 94 spec. Will be a great kick returner, WR screen and drag player. Basically the guy you want to have his hands on the ball. Oh, and speed like Perriman.
-Probably the highest or close to the highest priced player RTTP will bring for MVPs
The 2nd best WR IMO is Allen Robinson. 94 route running with 96 release and 97 catch in traffic. At 6’3 among other very good stats. This will be a 3rd down stud.
Interesting enough, no super tall WRs or DBs in the MVP sets.\
But Rishard Matthews is too slow and Kendall Wright has a bad mix of stats. High route running but low release means he can’t be relied on against man press coverage. Against zone and non-press man he’s good but too short. And the 93 speed might struggle to get as much separation as Austin will.
HBs
We have Mark Ingram and Chris Ivory, I like Ivory better. He’s now tied with Lynch for the highest truck in the game at 98. Similar speed. Although Ingram has much better agility. I think they will both be good backs for you but Ivory will be amazing at picking up 1 yard.
FB Marcel Reese
More of a running and receiving back than a blocking one but his low 80’s impact and run block means he can do that decently well too. He’s actually looking like a very good weapon for your offense if you use the full back. 95 accel with 89 speed means he’ll beat MLBs to the flats.
TE
Larry Donnell is very bad. He’s a receiving TE without speed. Run block at 71 means you can’t use him there. His only strength would probably be his red zone ability. 96 spec at 6’6. But you can get that out of cheaper players. He’ll be one of the cheapest MVPs.
Charles Clay is better but his run block is still a little low for me at 78. Seems like a tweener. A better run blocking but worse receiving Shannon Sharpe.
LT Jared Veldheer
Get him if you pass the ball a lot. His run blocking is low so I won’t be.
LG Josh Kline
He’s good, if you have an offense that pulls guards frequently, get this man. If you have an inside zone offense, Legend Steve Hutchinson is still better.
C Travis Frederick
I’ve loved all his cards this year. Unfortunately, I suggest not investing in Centers right now. With a Dual Style reward being a Center like last year, this market will crash hard here in the next could of weeks. But when his price goes down, I’m getting this card faster than you can say, oh, doesn’t matter, already got it.
RG John Greco
The 3rd best linemen on the browns has 97 run block. I recommend him just for that stat. But his others like 91 pass block and 86 awareness means he’s the best RG out there right now.
RT Lane Johnson
The right side of the line helped it’s positions more than the left, although that’s because the left has more competition. Awareness at 80 might miss some blocks but his other stats are straight out of John Madden’s dream world. Not to be confused with my dream world of all you can eat steaks, ribs and wings.
LE Michael Bennett
A hybrid end that can play well in a 3-4 or 4-3 like the New England playbook. Might be a little slow for my taste at 78 speed and his blockshed at 90 means he’s not the best at 3-4. Like I said, a hybrid between the two that doesn’t stand out in one scheme or the other. I’d rather get players that specialize and sub them in to different formations or situations. But he’s a good plug and play.
RE Allen Bailey
Low 80’s speed with high strength, 93 power moves and 88 blockshed. Seems like another tweener like Bennett at LE. I’m skipping Bailey.
DT
BJ Raji – 93 blockshed at 69 speed. Skip.
Terrance Knighton – 96 blockshed with 77 speed. Nice. 88 play rec for the screens. Power moves at 88 means he’s a terrible pass rusher. Damon Harrison’s captain card is better against the run but Knighton is faster to better help against screens and chasing down QBs in case he gets off a blocker.
LOLB – Elvis Dumervil and Pernell McPhee, great, two 3-4 OLBs. Why did they do this? They couldn’t have split it?
They are both slow but have some very interesting stats in other places. Dumervil has 99 finesse moves, 95 play rec. Blockshed is 84 so he’ll really struggle against the run and makes him almost unownable except in pass rush situations against pocket passers
McPhee has 91 blockshed so he’s better against the run and 97 power moves and 94 play rec. 80 speed so he’ll still struggle to keep up with the faster QBs and RBs, but he’s definitely the better of the two new OLBs.
MLBs
Eric Kendricks is a user dream. 90 speed, 94 accel with good blockshed, hit power. Not a huge fan of the lower play rec and zone but the blockshed and speed means he’s good against the run both on the inside and outside. Just an all around great MLB right now.
Brandon Marshall has 93 zone and 90 play rec. He’s a great ronco MLB. Set him and forget him. He should be your second MLB in a 3-4 if you user Kendricks, depending on how many coins you have.
But if I had to choose between the two, I’d go with Kendricks in a 4-3. And as a note if you didn’t see it, originally EA had Gerald Hodges as the Vikings MVP, forgetting he had been traded to the 49ers earlier this year.
ROLB Aaron Lynch and Danny Lansanah. Nice work here EA. One 3-4 and one 4-3.
We’ll start with the 3-4 guy, Aaron Lynch. What a stud here. He’s a mid-90’s David Hasselhof type stud. 89 speed, 99 acceleration with 97 power moves and 89 strength. This is a pass rusher. If you have the coins, this guy should be on the field on every 3rd down or passing situation. His blockshed at 87 is a little low to hold against the run but I love players like this, ones that can specialize in certain situations in games. I love em like I loved my 3 years of 5th grade.
Danny Lansanah. I wish I could be as complimentary to Danny as I was to Aaron.. But 84 speed with 86 zone coverage and 91 play rec just isn’t good enough when there are cards like Lavonte David’s 85 out there beating the core stats of Danny at the 4-3 linebacker spot. But Danny is significantly better against the run and can rush the passer. But he’s cursed as a tweener. Although there is value in flexibility for what that’s worth.
CBs
Rashean Mathis will be an absolute stud for a zone coverage scheme with 97 zone and 96 play rec. 91 speed is low, but not terribly so. His low blockshed might hurt him in a cover 2 zone trying to stop the run though. Might be worth trying this guy at free safety to see what he can do back there. Also his catching is a little low.
Jason Verrett is the man guy. 94 speed with 95 man coverage. Press is only 85 unfortunately so it ruins that scheme. Catching is nice on the card but he’s short at 5’10.
Johnathan Jospeh.
He’s a well rounded player. 5’11 unfortunately with good not great stats everywhere. 93 speed, 94 man, 92 zone, 88 press. His borderline great stats are his 92 play rec and 96 jumping. Solid player but nothing that jumps out of the screen at you, well, except for his jumping of course. Oh yeah, and he has hooves for hands at 69 catch.
FS Mike Mitchell
A run support FS with terrible zone coverage. Which to be honest is expected with 97 hit power. 88 play rec is okay. 92 speed and 93 acceleration are very solid. I tend to play my FS more over the top, but Mike Mitchell would do well in a more in the box type system.
SS
Kurt Coleman
Maybe EA is send us a message with these cards. Kurt Coleman is a good over the top Strong Safety. And with the recent release of Brian Dawkins at FS and Ed Reed at strong safety, my whole world is turning upside down face. Coleman has good speed and accel at 92 and 95, Zone coverage at 93 is Tied with Iloka as the 2nd best in the game behind the new Ed Reed. I wish his play rec and awareness were flipped, they are 87 and 90 respectively. 82 catch and 75 man coverage which is about average for a SS. He’s only 5’11 and I don’t love the agility but I might give this card a go to see it perform.
William Moore
More of a traditional SS than Coleman. 97 hit power with only and 84 zone coveage. 90 speed and 96 acceleration. Low play rec at 83. A good in the box strong safety with surprisingly low block shed at 68.
I might review the signature series and base road to the playoffs players at a later date but for base players that stuck out on a brief overview:
Base players:
Jadaveon Clowney – Get yourself him soon. He’s a top pass rusher right now. Put him at your 4-3 end or blitzing OLB
Julius Peppers elite – Love him for his height and other user stats. His speed is the only thing holding him back and might make him close to unusable.
Ryan Shazier – Another Ryan Shazier, another user god
Avoid Brent Grimes CB card like the plague. It is terrible.
And signature series players are ones that deserve full reviews on their own, like Ed Reed’s 98 overall.
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