Ratings scale with price unless their performance justifies their outrageous price like Bo Jackson:
Strong Buy – Top Recommendation. A game changer or budget beast
Buy
Hold – Try out and see if the card works for you before deciding whether to sell
Sell
Strong Sell – Sell immediately upon pull and don’t look back.
95 overall WR Jordy Nelson – Most Missed
Absolutely, no doubt about it beautiful receiving stats across the board. 99 route running with 96 release and 98 catch in traffic? 3rd down converter murderer. His spec catch at 93 seems a little low for what he did for the Packers offense down the field but the card might have been too high of an overall at that point.
Run block at 67 is competitive and his speed of 92 is on the lower end of acceptable. He’ll be a very consistent WR for you best slotted in the…slot. Depending on what his price gets down to, I see him being an underrated star that won’t make the big flashy play for you but will make it when you need it to keep your drive chugging along.
Rating: Buy
94 Overall LE Cameron Wake – Workout Warrior
Eww. 85 speed and 80 blockshed. Terrible for a LE in a 4-3 or 3-4. Fortunately this guy can be an interior pass rusher for you on 3rd and long. His 98 power move will do very well on the inside. Like I heard vegetables do very well for your insides, not that I’d know. But still, he’s too expensive for such a niche roll that others can fill for a fraction of the cost.
Rating: Strong Sell
94 overall FS Tyrann Mathieu
94 speed with 97 acceleration, 97 agility and 94 zone coverage. WOW. But to throw some cold water on our dicks, we must temper ourselves because his play rec is only 87, he’s 5’9, his blockshed is 59 and he plays mostly corner IRL. If that play rec was low to mid 90’s he’d be a great route jumper. This guy is still going to fly all over the field for you. But he’s not great in over the top coverage in cover 2 or 3 like I like to play my FS and he will be spec catched over by bigger WRs like Johnson or Jackson. As a FS, he’s best used in an occasional man coverage role but mostly near the line of scrimmage. So you’d want your SS back deep in a cover 3, ideally someone like George Iloka.
But using Tyrann as a speed user player isn’t such a bad idea either, I’d just be concerned with his height and low-ish jumping because it limits your ability to go up and get picks. Calvin Johnson and Sean Taylor are still the gold standard for that purpose.
Rating: Hold/sell
93 overall WR Steve Smith – Most Vocal
A 5’9 WR needs to be outstanding in something to be useable. Unfortunately Steve Smith is just outstanding in shit. So wipe your boots off and pick up Amari Cooper while selling Smith. How are you going to use a short receiver with low route running? If he had 97 speed that would be one thing, but 93 just won’t beat guys on the streak. He’s far too expensive for his bad mix of stats. 72 release means he’ll get shoved over in press. His only redeeming attribute is 98 CIT which isn’t that rare for WR cards nowadays. Anything this Smith can do, other cards can do better.
Rating: Strong Sell
93 Overall FS Eric Weddle – Best Beard
Intriguing play rec and zone coverage stats at 93 and 92. Really good blockshed and pursuit to help against the run. Unfortunately I don’t love his speed at 88 and height at 5’11. His speed especially ruins his card when you compare him to 92 Glover Quin who beats him in just about every important coverage category. The 4 points in speed that Quin has over him is very important as a FS needs to get to the sideline to help against bombs and needs the speed to chase down ball carriers running freely to the end zone. Speed is just too important at the position to get away with something I wouldn’t look fondly on if even an LB had it.
Rating: Sell
92 Overall TE Travis Kelce – Best TD Celebrations
This might be my next TE. Not a ton of upgrades over his captain card but still enough of them to make a difference. He’s a nice mix of blocking and receiving. Your opponent won’t know whether you are running or passing by having him in there disguising your offense like the fog on a London morning.
Still not as potent of a weapon as Hines Ward at TE, Kelce’s run block might make up for it if you are in a run first scheme. Having 11 more points in run block will really help seal the edge. Or edge the seal as I do when we’re doing it together. Of course if you are more 50/50 run/pass with other very good WRs already, it’s hard not to recommend Ward over him at the spot even with Hines costing twice as much. But having both Hines and Kelce on the field on one side at TE and WR will make your opponent have to respect the run while you play action with their heart and hit them deep against the one on one coverage on the other side of the field with your streaking bomb artists Brandon Marshall and OBJ.
Rating: Buy
91 Overall TE Jordan Reed – Best Redzone Target
A TE more slanted to the receiving part of the spectrum over the Kelce above. 88 Speed on a TE is very nice along with the 93 route running. His run block is very low at 66 giving you no reason to run him over a much cheaper 89 overall Michael Floyd who is the same height, much faster, better run block and overall is just a better card than Jordan Reed.
Rating: Sell
91 overall FS Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – Best Field Presence
Plus 1 in just about every attribute over his 89 Thanksgiving version. Except Hit Power, +6 there. I never heard anything remarkable about his Thanksgiving card but this one seems like a very solid FS. 6’1 with 92 speed is very good. Good play rec and zone coverage. Okay man coverage at 80 means he can stick on TEs and RBs fairly well even though corner routes will eat his lunch. 68 block shed might be a little low with all the good blocking WRs we’re getting now, but try him out for yourself since this card should be cheaper than his rare-ish Thanksgiving version. With the added hit power and all around quality of this card, he could be a solid defender in many different schemes. A Jack of all Trades.
Rating: Hold
90 overall HB DeAngelo Williams – Best Hair (Troy P Tribute of course)
93 speed with 97 acceleration is a solid foundation to build an RB. But like a house in the suburbs with a solid foundation, there isn’t the woodwork or marble columns on this thing to make you wow. Everything else is low 90’s and having elusiveness over trucking is a problem for me. He’s a starter home for a young professional. A solid back to hang your hat on and call home until you get the killer job with the high salary to really upgrade to something in the nice part of town.
Rating: Sell
90 Overall WR Victor Cruz – Best Dressed
Seeing the stats on this card I can only imagine my reaction is the same as the girls who saw me in high school. Ironic that the best dressed winner is the ugliest of all cards stats wise. Too expensive to redeem itself as a budget player.
Rating: Strong sell
90 Overall MLB Deone Bucannon – Most Changed
I figured Caitlyn Jenner would win this award too but luckily for us MUT players Deone won it. But my god, the play rec and speed combo on this thing means he’ll be all over the place for you. Like Han in the Millennium Falcon, he’ll always be in the right place at the right time. Great user but can also be left to his own devices in coverage. His man coverage is shit at 70 but his speed will help him on long drags like RuPaul. Blockshedding and pursuit is a little low for a traditional run stuffer but far more runs this year test the outside than the inside so his speed will help stop the run more than his blockshed. He won’t need to shed blocks that don’t touch him. I wish his jump was a little better and he’s only 6’1 but those are minor concerns for what this card brings you. The standout stud from this promotional group of cards.
Rating: STRONG BUY
89 overall WR Jarvis Landry – Best Hands
I’m not exactly sure what 100 catching does as the only time my WRs are catching the rock is when the spec catch comes into play or the catch in traffic does. But Jarvis has okay other stats. 90 speed is low for this time of year and 92 route running won’t get you separation as the DBs will stick on him like a fallen tree branch. His low after the catch stats like juke and elusiveness means he won’t be great for catching a ball short and picking up the first on his own. But his price might fall through like my business ventures so he could be worth it if he’s like 10k. I don’t see it getting there any time soon though.
Rating: Strong Sell
89 Overall ROLB Jared Allen – Best Personality
I sure hope he has good personality because this is an ugly card. A 3-4 pass rusher due to his terrible zone coverage. Has great play rec and power moves but his low speed will have him beat to the sidelines by both RBs and scrambling QBs. And 83 blockshed means he’s not a factor in the run game either.
Rating: Strong Sell
89 Overall CB Desmond Trufant – Mr. Invisible
Like I said above, 92 speed is on the low end of acceptable for this time in MUT. But he’ll be a great man corner as long as he isn’t against the Tavon Austin types. 95 man with 96 agility means he’ll go pee with a lot of WRs. 93 zone and 85 play rec is low but not horrendous. Especially for his price. 6’0 isn’t bad but 54 blockshed is. Not someone you want at the nickel or Dime. Depending on your coins, this could be a real good mid-tier corner for you.
I had it pointed out to me by fixyourgameEA on the muthead forums that Trufant’s lack of press is a hindrance to his man coverage. I didn’t make that point but I should have. Be wary when pressing with this card.
Rating: Buy
88 Overall LT Terron Armstead – Best Protector
This card is worse than his 83 in a bunch of categories. His upgrades came in Strength, Awareness and pass block. His run block and pass block are 90 and 93. Solid stats for his price. But are they enough to upgrade you from his 83 card? Value-wise, no. Overall this is still a pretty good card, it just isn’t a great upgrade like we had hoped from his 83 card. But best protector needed better pass block and since it’s only about 5 categories that make up an o-linemen’s overall, what can we expect when they upgrade 3 of them? (obviously to not downgrade the others gutfoxx)
Rating: Buy – His price is pretty low
88 Overall CB Byron Jones – Best hops
I was hoping this would go to my friend farmer John as his hops are the best. Sells them to brewery’s all over the place. But Farmer John’s field is not a football one so we’ll settle with Byron. 92 speed along with his 100 jump which was rightly deserved because he set the combine record for broad jump.
More athlete than corner, Byron is an interesting case study on what can be done with high physical stats. His coverage stats limit his card but if one of you trys him, let me know how he plays. I just wish the speed was a little higher so we can have a metaphorical “combine hero” before the actual sets come out this year.
Rating: Hold and let me know how he plays
88 Overall La’el Collins – Best Pancakes
He’s cheap like I like my dates. I don’t spring for the expensive fruits. He’s got great impact block and run block. But how is he going to use that impact block when he can’t find anyone with his low awareness? So don’t run plays with a pulling guard if he’s there because he’s more likely to Forest Gump his way through the tunnel than find an opponent to block. His run block is high enough that he’ll be killer on inside zones but his pass block is too low. He’s too one dimensional for me but his redeeming value is inside zones so he isn’t worthless.
Rating: Sell unless your scheme is inside zone and straight ahead runs.
88 Overall WR Dorial Green-Beckham
This card is a BEAST. 6’5 with 96 spec catch going for mid-20k coins? Great combo of speed, CIT and run block. This is an amazing budget beast on a similar level with Amari Cooper. Get this card ASAP.
Rating: STRONG BUY
86 Overall QB Matt Hasselbeck – Most likely to become a coach
New Elite exchange player! Or CPU QB in player lock challenges with his 100 awareness.
Rating: Strong Exchange
85 Overall Drew Stanton – Best Team Spirit
Another great elite exchange player. But other than that I think his lack of throw power and mobility hurts his otherwise decent accuracy stats. Although he’s got high acceleration which plays a big part in escaping the pocket so that doesn’t hurt. Overall he’s solid as a pocket passer on a budget. You can definitely do worse. But for just 11k or so you can get 90 Winston with his 98 throw power and chuck long bombs to DGB all day.
Rating: Sell or Exchange
That’s it, let me know what you guys think on some of these guys in the comments.
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