If you want to put together a very run heavy offense on a budget, get the below players.
I have placed players in order they should appear on your depth chart. So the number 1 WR should be in the number 1 WR spot, 2 in 2, etc. If you want to sub in guys to get your styles above 90, then go right ahead! Have fun building your team.
QB – Johnny Manziel 84 overall is the top option here for running QBs but he’s 15k, Cam Newton’s 84 is great for the option offense and so is Marcus Mariota’s 76 if you promise me you’ll always slide with your QB and not take a hit. Otherwise get Matt Stafford for pocket passing situations.
HB – 1. Duke Johnson 79 overall – First down runner. OR Charcandrick West 82 overall TOTW has 93 speed with 92 elusiveness, 96 accel and 93 juke and would be a good alternative. OR Karlos Williams 84 overall TOTW if you want more trucking in your back but still great speed.
Dri Archer 70 overall MF if you can afford it –For outside runs and tosses. If not his base silver does a good job getting out wide.
Chris Ivory 84 overall TOTW for inside runs and short yardage
Reggie Bush 77 overall for catching passes out of the backfield
Don’t let Duke get fatigued. Use Archer and Ivory generously.
FB –Patrick DiMarco 81 overall RTTP. After playing the game for a while I’ve come to realize awareness at this position is most important. A TE will suffer an awareness drop when moved to FB. All FBs are expensive but get Patrick DiMarco’s 81 overall RTTP card which has 82 awareness with 83 run block and 80 impact.
WR – You must get 91 Amari Cooper. Either do Journey 2 for him which isn’t too tough or scrape enough coins together. He is a gamechanger. You will get production from him that you won’t get from other players around his price level. He’s the game’s best value right now.
Amari Cooper 91 overall (replace with Dorial Green-Beckham 83 overall until obtainable. Huge deep threat this DGB is.)
Michael Floyd 84 overall TOTW
Keenan Allen 83 overall 95 route running 93 CIT. Great for 3rd downs.
Tavon Austin 75 overall – 95 speed for drags and beating man coverage with speed. Also should be your kick and punt returner.
Sponsor: Bartle’s Taxonomy of player types, where I got the idea for this video and am using it as a baseline.
The 7 types of Madden players are Achievers, Traffickers, Explorers, Socializers, Killers, Dreamers and Solitarians.
Achievers – MUT master completionists, or the ones who like to see their name at the top of the leaderboard or be the first to complete a set or challenge, They get their joy from hard challenges and overcoming them. They’re the ones that want to get the highest overall cards on their squad and achieve the maximum rating for their squad overall. Madden doesn’t have a one to one relationship with Magic for obvious reasons but the guys who want the highest overalls are known as Timmy’s in that game. It doesn’t fit perfectly but we’ll go with it.
Traffickers – the auction house guru, basically the guys who sit on the auction house looking for cards they can make a profit on. So if you sell your guy a little low, they’ll buy them then re-list higher. The middle men of MUT. Our Facebook, our Amazon, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. They don’t create anything, but they provide a service of market liquidity. Basically always ensuring there will be a buyer for any card priced lower than market rate. Our stock brokers looking to squeeze every ounce of juice from the market. Whereas the real stock market has very low transaction fees, the 10% in MUT means they are destroying a lot of coins to get some for themselves. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that. I do it too.
Explorers – The guys who like to find things like discovering ways to make coins, new nanos, new money plays or complex routes to beat defenses or on the flip side of it to shut down offenses. In magic terms this player would be Johnny – the player that likes to win with their own scheme. Like the guy who comes out in formations in no ebooks. A win with his own creation is better than a win with what everyone else is doing. His enjoyment of the game is making it his own. His win rate isn’t as high as it could be but the fact that he beat you with something original is very satisfying to him and actually really impressive to the rest of us too.
The Solitarians – Solos only player – There are a few reasons why a player will only play solos in MUT. One is they get nervous playing online and have ladder anxiety. So they grind solos to have fun with the game of football and creating their custom team.
Secondly, they just like playing against the CPU and want the achievement of getting new players and playing against an opponent who won’t use money plays and can be beaten relatively easily. They don’t like losing, they don’t like cheese or lag or the other frustrations that come with head to head.
Thirdly, solos pay much better than head to head. And they don’t want to spend money so they grind for coins through solos. They can watch netflix or TV and grind to afford their favorite players.
Socializers – People there for the game’s community, the ones on message boards, youtube, twitch. They like the game because of the community surrounding it and will share their knowledge and absorb other’s knowledge. These are the guys in clans on muthead or anyone on the MUT Subreddit because we’re all one family there. You subscribe to gutfoxx and I love you for it.
Killers – These are the guys that want to assert dominance mainly through other’s suffering, knowing people on the other side of the connection are cursing. These are the people who run nanos, money schemes, the ones who put winning above all else. This isn’t just head to head, it could be the auction house guru who corners the market on a card so they can inflate the price as seen popularly on Reddit earlier this year with BCA Russell Wilson. These are the ones who might de-rank to rookie just to destroy new players and not necessarily for the badges as they claim, these are the taunters and trash talkers you hear on the mic. In magic this is Spike – all he cares about is winning. Will cheese. A purely competitive gamer, doesn’t care about the names on the cards. Only their stats and will optimize their lineup to do best at their few plays. For example he’ll get the fastest player on defense at DE for the nano. Spike will look up nanos on youtube, run schemes they found the top players having success with. Will exploit everything possible all in the name of the win. Because that’s what they enjoy most, winning.
Dreamers – The people who still play connected franchise – A relic of an older age stubbornly in his rut, this man stays true to the building of a franchise through a mode that’s been slashed and burned more than the rainforests in the Amazon. They either dream of days gone by with good franchise modes or maybe they are the younger generations coming of age wanting to represent their team as a GM or coach and build it up not realizing the many features they’ve missed over the years, features that have been added in then taken out, all of them lost in time like tears in rain. Oh to be a kid in 2005 when franchise mode was decent. It’s stagnated almost completely since in the last decade even after the absorption of the NFL head coach dev team in 09. Which destroyed a great product to make Madden’s connected franchise supposedly better but in the end changed nothing. But these Dreamers want to roll play either as player themselves making the NFL or leading a team in the league. They are fantazisers. But often crushed by reality that Madden just doesn’t cater to their wants and needs of an immersive storyline and engaging RPG elements outside of adding to your attributes. So dream on dreamers. I applaud your continued efforts to enjoy yourself in Madden.
That’s the 7 types of Madden players, Achievers, Traffickers, Explorers, Solitarians, Socializers, Killers, Dreamers. But you might ask yourself, why does all of the names end with -er except the Solitarians. Well isn’t it obvious, they stand alone.
But what type of player are you? I’m an explorer, socializer and trafficker
sponsor: surprise guests. The last sir prize I got ended up causing a confusing time in my life.
This dude is the journey 2 reward and should be the first major purchase for any team looking to compete. More important than a QB, HB or defensive player is a cheap, reliable and speedy WR. (foxy gut) They usually only come in 2 of those 3 categories. To find one in all three really makes a difference for your offense. If this guy was rated 95 overall I wouldn’t question it. (foxy gut)
Cost: 37k on the xbox one
Stats:
Physical – 6’1 211 pounds (foxy gut)
95 speed – This is what really makes this card special. There are only 5 elite cards faster than this one. One of them is 2 million coins, 3 of the others are over 100k and the other is Tavon Austin’s 86 overall who is only good with the ball in his hands and not so great when it is coming at them. Amari Cooper is the cheapest elite WR you’ll get over 91 speed with the exception of Martavis Bryant’s 85 card with 93 speed.
91 accel – Now this is a little low and he’ll take time to get moving like I do in the morning but 91 is nothing embarrassingly slow like my reactions to an insult. (foxy gut)
96 agility – This is for moving side to side like a politician, perfect for changing direction like Shia LaBeouf’s career. This combines with the juke and spin to make him hard to take down and allows for better control with the thumb sticks.
90 jumping – We’ll get to this more when we talk about spec catch and his weakness on jump balls. (no, talk about it now, you always procrastinate, like that one time you didn’t wash your cloths so you had to wear mine) But dat silk on my skin doe. Okay we can talk about it now. Well, jump balls aren’t his greatest asset. But height doesn’t seem to play as big a factor in it this year but for some animations jumping definitely does. Relatively low jumping when compared to other elite WRs and a short stature and spec catch means you need another card like either of Martavis Bryant’s TOTW cards if you’re looking for that type of role. (oh, and why do you never roll play with me? I asked you to be the bad boy once and you pushed milk off the table and started crying) That’s what bad boys do.
Catching:
95 catch – Catching happens when no one is around the player. (you’re the only player that nobodies is around) At 95 catch you won’t have any issue with drops.
96 catch in traffic – This is so money( how money is it?) It’s so money I could finally buy liquor in bottles bigger than my hand. (How money is it?) It’s so money I can finally pay off your pimp. (How money is it?) It’s so money I can buy vegetables with all the extra money. I won’t but I could.
93 spec catch – This goes with his lack of jump and height. He’s not a receiver you send into the corner of the end zone for a jump ball. But he’ll still get some animations, not all of them lion king quality like Fitz’s 94 overall.
94 route running – His route running combined with the speed will get separation like my father from this family. (what are you talking about, your father isn’t separated from this family, he just told you to leave the house, you were 38 and still living there) Corner, C-routes, posts to beat man, he can do them. Wonderful route running and speed makes him John Wayne Gacy. A man killer
90 release – Pretty good but he’ll get jammed for a little while by top tier CBs and my grandmas’ bumble berry breakfast jam toast. When I’ve played against Amari he was able to break the press on my Jonathan Joseph and DC Pat Pete and beat them deep for a TD a couple times. Both with a +5 to press with 90 man defense style. (90 style, that’s why you play video games, to escape from your lack of style)
75 awareness – He won’t turn his head early in the play. Just like I won’t turn my head up from my phone when listening to foxy gut ramble about her day. Just like I won’t take my lips off that glass of whiskey when you are telling me about yours. Gulp, gulp
Running with the ball
90 elusiveness
91 ball carrier vision
92 spin
94 juke move- Great all around, he’s no Tavon Austin but can shed a tackle from a DB nicely. He breaks tackles like foxy gut breaks hearts.
Run blocking:
60 run block
60 impact block – Not a great run blocker but will shut down and lock up DRC and other low blockshed cbs
His biggest limitation is his lack of height, jumping and spec catch ability. That just isn’t the strength of his game. But overall he’s phenomenal for a short to medium passing game and can burn some of the slower and even some of the faster DBs on streaks. (He’s very well rounded with his only weakness the jump ball.
All players over 90 overall in this thanksgiving set have a milestone to reach on Thanksgiving. We’ll get to them in a bit. Those between 85-89 do not. Here is EA’s blog so I won’t bore you going over each set and how to obtain each player. Every card I talk about over 90 overall is dual styles so they’ll help you there if you are struggling although there are some great resources from cmaddog on the MUT sub to help you through the challenges.
Also a little bit of news before we get started, Here’s a link to $50,000 Madden Challenge Tournament that EA is putting on. Looks like a nice little cherry for ranked draft champions and to see who the top Madden players are. Let me know what you all think of it.
Link to all players on muthead: http://www.muthead.com/16/players?filter-program-16=59&
Cam Newton – 93 overall
Playing Dallas on Thanksgiving. Their defense is average to below average in points allowed. I’d say the 3 TDs is a little less than a 50/50 shot. Cam has 21 TDs passing and rushing through 9 games.
This card compares very favorably to Donovan McNabb’s 95 overall in everything except throwing accuracy. Cam’s deep is especially atrocious at 84. Everything else about this card is spades and if he hits his 3 TDs and the extra overall goes to accuracy, we have the best QB in the game right now by a mile. If he doesn’t, I’m not sure if the throw deep doesn’t irreparably harm this thing. Compare this card to Mariota’s 88. You’ll pay the extra coin for Cam for strength, trucking, 4 throw power and play action but are losing 2 speed and 11 points in accuracy spread between the 3 categories.
Barry Sanders 98 overall
I don’t think I have the words for this card that can do it justice. I mean what can you say about this card that hasn’t been said about the Mona Lisa. Dri Archer speed with enough elusiveness to dodge prison time like OJ in the 90’s. 100 elusiveness, 101 agility. The only downside to this card is his trucking and what his price will look like.
Randall Cobb – 92 overall
Will get to a 96 overall if he catches 10 or more passes. He’s only had two 10 reception games in his career with both coming last year. I’d give this a 5-10% chance at happening.
But this card has okay speed with very good route running and catch in traffic. His poor release mean’s he’ll be a tough place to go to on 3rd down against an opponent running a man press scheme. He’s not better than Amari Cooper’s 91 so I don’t see myself using Cobb.
Jason Witten – 92 overall TE.
With 2 TD’s he goes up to a 95. 2 TD’s in 1 game in 2015, 2 in 2013, 1 in 2010. I’d give this a 5% shot of happening. About as good as my shot of taking a shower on any certain day.
But this card as it stands is a little slow with unimpressive run block. EA should give Witten better run block. But his height combined with catch in traffic and awareness gives him some value as a goal line and 3rd down converter.
Matt Forte – 91 Overall HB.
With 140 yards from scrimmage he goes up to a 94. His injury situation makes this a very dicey call and not one I would bet on. Like I should have learned not to bet after losing my first 4 stacks of high society in high end man-splattering. That’s where two people are pushed off a building and the first one to hit the ground wins. A tip for you kids out there, never bet on the guy with a baggy shirt.
But onto his card, he is a 3rd down catching back plain and simple. His speed and running skills really limit his every down usefulness. And because he’s only a change of pace back, his 99 stamina is wasted.
Walter Thurmond 91 overall CB.
IRL he’s a safety on the Eagles but for now he’s a CB in game. He goes up to a 97 overall with 2 picks on Thanksgiving. I’ll give this one a less than 5% chance of happening.
The card has 93 speed with 94 man coverage and 90 zone. His press at 82 makes using him in man press a very bad idea. 88 play rec is decent and his high agility at 95 makes changing direction and jumping routes easier. But overall I do not recommend this card as he isn’t a great corner for any one scheme. His blockshed being 47 makes him bad for a nickel corner too.
Stephen Tulloch – 91 overall MLB
10 tackles or more has him up to a 94. This one has a better chance at happening than the previous couple. I’d put it at 30-35% unless he celebrates a sack and gets injured again. But even if he is a 94, based on his 91 overall stats, he isn’t fast enough to play MLB in Madden 16. MLB’s need speed to get to the edge on tosses and make tackles on speedy WRs on drag routes. He also only has an 88 blockshed so he isn’t all that great as a guard shedder on inside dives or zones. This is not a card you want to own for what his price will be.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – 89 overall FS
The rest of these cards do not have milestones to reach and are only one style. Ha Ha has 91 speed, 91 zone, 86 play rec, 89 hit power. An all around very good free safety. How does he compare to Glover Quin’s 92? Not amazingly so. I would still rather have Quin but if Ha Ha’s price is much less than Quin’s he would be a great pick up. Ha Ha is a better tackler than Quin but everything else is pointed in Quin’s favor.
Kawann Short – 89 overall DT
Playing as the best DT in the league this year, Kawann Short’s card unfortunately doesn’t live up to it for me. His 87 blockshed at 74 speed isn’t ideal. He won’t help much against the run. 94 power move is very good of course. So if he’s not too expensive and you want an interior pass rusher, there are many more much worse than Kawann.
Randy Gregory – 88 overall RE.
This will be the nano blitzer’s dream if they discover new A or B gaps after the patch. 89 speed with 95 acceleration that can move down to DT for those nanos. But as a straight pass rusher, his 95 finesse move combined with the aforementioned speed stats means he’s a 4-3 scheme’s wet dream. This card combined with Clowney’s 84 overall at the two end spots on your line will make a mean pass rush with speed to keep the edge against and chase down roll out passers.
Corey Linsley – 87 overall Center
92 run block, 90 pass block, 93 impact block. Solid and should be a cheap center. Although should be’s are falsities. The Barry set could drive his price north like birds in the summer. Nothing really else to say about this card.
Jordan Matthews – 87 overall Wide receiver.
93 speed with 95 acceleration. 91 spec at 6’3 and 95 catch in traffic. His 85 release hurts but he’ll be a productive if not an unspectacular WR for you. Nothing here stands out except for his very low run blocking. His low elusiveness, juke and spin means he won’t be shedding many tacklers once he has the ball. So he isn’t good like Tavon on drags. So if you are on a budget, this is a solid number 1 or 2 WR that you sub out when you need to run the ball. Just be careful about tipping your hand.
Manny Ramirez – 87 overall RG
90 run block, 83 pass block, 87 impact block with low speed stats. 90 awareness is awesome but I’m not a big fan of the mix of these stats on a guard. I pull my guards and pass too often to use Manny on my team.
Mike Tolbert – 87 overall full back
Depending on how you use your full back Tolbert is either a very good or a complete pass. He has 77 run block and 75 impact. If you use your FB as a lead blocker, pass on Tolbert. 82 speed and 90 acceleration with decent catching and trucking stats. You can use him as a FB dive or a receiver out of the backfield. He doesn’t exactly excel in these areas compared to other FBs or TEs but he will perform decently for you. In addition his 88 awareness means he won’t screw up too many assignments if you run with him as a lead blocker once in a while.
Ameer Abdullah – 86 overall half back
Top tier acceleration with decent speed and elusiveness. An okay mix of receiving skills. I wouldn’t want this guy as my bell-cow, but he’s got an interesting mix of stats with his 97 juke and 94 agility. I just don’t see the explosive ability or exceptional receiving abilities out of someone with only 84 carrying and 87 stamina. I would pass on Ameer. We’ll get to a much better HB soon.
Brent Celek – 86 overall TE
Top tier blocking TE that can also catch a pass once in a while. And when I say once in a while I mean it. Do not use him as a primary receiving target. He’ll be good as TE number 2 or 3 on your team but 80 catching means he will let you down like Rick Astley would never do.
Christian Jones – 86 overall MLB
Very good speed stats at 88 speed and 96 acceleration to go with 87 zone coverage. He’ll be great as a user or non-user MLB in coverage. Unfortunately he has deficiencies against the run with 84 blockshed and 80 play rec. But he will get to the edge against toss plays with his speed and 92 pursuit. Might be worth giving a try just to use the speed and 6’3 height.
Jeremy Langford – 86 overall HB
His silver card was a stud for me. 95 speed with 94 acceleration on this card is something you want to pay attention to. 91 trucking means we have a very unique back. A power back that runs fast. 95 spin and 96 stiff arm means you can dry laundry by hitting the b button and iron it with the hot metallic arm he throws at defenders. His catching stats aren’t bad either. If his price gets to a reasonably low level, this will be a stud budget baller and is much better than his turkey promo competition Ameer Abdullah.
Byron Jones – 85 overall CB
The first thing that stands out is that you’ll give him your money even when you are in an alley in another state. That’s how good his jump is. 99 jumping stat. 89 zone with very low play rec but decent speed, acceleration and agility. I think it would be interesting to see him go against the Calvin’s of the world and see if that extraordinary jumping helps against those long bombs.
Alternative title: Where is my mind? Oh yeah, focused on Calvin’s behind as he streaks down the sideline. Maybe my opponent should have had his mind on the same topic.
Alternative title #2: Screens, Screens everywhere and no submarine to attach them to.
Today I go through my lineup updated at Road to the Playoffs and then pull some road to the playoffs sets. Anywhere I should update? Do you like the selections I made? There are some weak spots at the o-line and I’m hoping to save enough for Deion.
Alternative title, probably should be about the packs, hmmm…: OMG electric packs! Elite pulls with one going for 6 digits!
Today I am joined by The Wop to discuss how to shut down nanos from the 4-3, 3-4 and Dime defenses. We show what to look for and how to pass against the sets. I shut his 94 overall squad with screaming heat down with my 50ish starter squad showing the ineffectiveness of blockshedding on pass rushes this year.
Alternative title: Watch as my warm bodies shut down his Ferrari.
Today we lay a nice base down and review Tom Brady’s base 90 overall card. His upgraded card came out and looks rockin. Will his deep throw accuracy be enough?
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