Madden 19

Hello friends! I hope everybody is enjoying the offseason, and is adequately filling the madden-sized void in their lives. Before we begin, I’d like to take a moment and thank everybody for playing. No matter how dumb this game we play together can be at times, there’s no doubt it’s responsible for plenty of good memories, laughs and friendships, depending on who you ask. This is something i wish i had started doing years ago, but better late than never.

-Danny

The Champions

Season 1 – Davey. (Patriots): If anybody thought Davey’s “asterisk bowl” at the end of 18 was a fluke, he shut them up, just maybe not right away. After a week 1 loss, these Patriots finished the season at 14-2, and capped off a dramatic postseason run with a double digit Super Bowl victory over the Cardinals. This was the perfect send off for Tom Brady, truly an all time underdog. 

Season 2 – Warren (Saints): After gaining some momentum upon joining the league late in season 1, Warren kept consistent in his play throughout the rest of the cycle. With multiple teams going 12-4 in the conference, the Saints were decided to be the team most worthy of the second seed, and took care of business in short order, in a super bowl decided by multiple scores. Against the defending champions, might we add. 

Season 3 – PTown (Titans): Enduring consecutive years of postseason heartbreak can be hard to recover from, but in season 3, Daniel proved it is not impossible. If beating a division rival by 45 points in the playoffs is not a statement victory, I don’t know what is. Despite the message that everyone else probably just shouldn’t bother for those playoffs, play continued and saw the Titans win the second title in Top franchise history.

Season 4 –  N/A: Consider this official word from the league office, this season never happened. 
Season 5 – Christopher (Browns): The fan favorite commish took the season long hiatus to refine his game, and looked like the “Pest” of old,  terrorizing opponents on his way to a 14-2 season with an average margin of victory in the 20’s. Madden 19 was sent off in style by the winningest team of the cycle, the Cleveland Browns.

Team Records

NFC Conference

1. New Orleans Saints: 59-21 (.738) – Warren
2. Los Angeles Rams: 58-22 (.725) – Fin
3. New York Giants: 57-23 (.719) – Danny
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 55-25 (.688) – Jordan
5. Chicago Bears: 50-30 (.625) – Ty
6. Arizona Cardinals: 47-33 (.588) – Troy
7. Green Bay Packers: 45-35 (.563) – Grid
8. Philadelphia Eagles: 43-37 (.538) – Donny
9. Dallas Cowboys: 41-39 (.513) – Derek
10. Atlanta Falcons: 40-40 (.500) – CoolD
11. Seattle Seahawks: 39-41 (.488) – Flex
12. Carolina Panthers: 26-54 (.325) – Bippin Nippies/Flems/ZCar
13. Minnesota Vikings: 23-57 (.288) – Colton/Isaias
14. San Fransisco 49ers: 20-59-1 (.253) – Shrimp
15. Detroit Lions: 17-63 (.213) – Cory
16. Washington Redskins: 15-65 (.188) – Bongy/Slim

AFC Conference

1. Cleveland Browns: 62-18 (.775) – Pest
2. Tennessee Titans: 61-19 (.763) – PTown
3. Los Angeles Chargers: 56-23-1 (.709) – Boom
4. New England Patriots: 52-28 (.650) – Davey
5. Buffalo Bills: 50-30 (.625) – Steele
6. Houston Texans: 48-32 (.600) – Mindfire
7. Baltimore Ravens: 47-33 (.588) – Willie
8. Pittsburgh Steelers: 40-40 (.500) – Nano
9. Cincinnati Bengals: 39-41 (.488) – Seran
10. Miami Dolphins: 37-42-1 (.468) – Arlen
11. Kansas City Chiefs: 35-45 (.438) – Lance/Lynx
12. Jacksonville Jaguars: 28-52 (.350) – Jose/GMoney
13. Indianapolis Colts: 25-55 (.313) – Gavin/Blue
14. New York Jets: 21-58-1 (.266) – Rukus/KMcD
15. Denver Broncos: 21-59 (.263) – Woat
16. Oakland Raiders: 20-60 (.250) – Tony

The Moves

No league year is complete without a ton of baffing player movement around the league. Let’s take a moment to remember the transactions that altered the course of Top Madden 19. 

Redskins trade a 1st round pick for Teez Tabor, A’Shawn Robinson: Forgot that this one happened? You’re not alone. While Bongy was well intentioned in wanting to develop players from his own team, he announced his departure shortly thereafter. Thus, a move that can be pointed to as the first  in a cycle-long display of ineptitude from Washington’s front office. This really is a sim league

Cameron Jordan fetches a first rounder for the Saints: More madness from former owners. Myles pulled off this heist, as if the Saints roster needed help, Myles turned the aging D-Lineman into a first and second round pick. 

Titans Carousel: Before Madden 19 released, the Titans seemed poised to make the most out of a two headed monster in Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis at running back. Leave it to coach PTown to look at that situation, then deem it necessary to trade multiple firsts for two more running backs in Tarik Cohen and Melvin Gordon

Giants back up the brinks truck for Mariota: Heading into the cycle, the Giants looked like a fantastic offensive team. After a heartbreaking playoff exit, coach Danny traded away much of that core in a defining move, sending Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard and Kyle Lauletta off to Nashville. 

DJ Chark Is Unleashed: Our fallen CM and dear friend Jose was truly out of his mind on this one. Moving up 8 spots in the draft was worth trading a premier deep threat in Chark according to him, and the trade committee agreed. 

Russell Wilson’s coke party: Following a Season 2 where Russ played on a franchise tag, Coach Flex figured out he could run his “balls deep” offense with just about any QB and let Wilson walk. A bidding war ensued, and Miami emerged victorious, giving them one less spot on the team to worry about rebuilding. 

The Browns’ Blockbuster: Right before the draft, Coach Vitulli got bold and sent the third overall pick in the draft to the Titans (here they are…again) for Corey Davis and Dane Cruikshank, laying the framework on both sides of the ball for a team that would eventually feature those two players in a Super Bowl run. 

Utecht heads to Buffalo: After truly finding his footing in the NFL under the tutelage of coach McCormick, Gabriel “Tech Support” Utecht fell victim to the circus of roster management that was the Titans and was sent to Buffalo in yet another blockbuster. What ensued was some of the most exciting football the city has seen in years. 
Patrick Mahomes was a Jaguar: Don’t know if there’s much else to say here. This will likely be looked back on as quite the anomaly, as Lance moved Mahomes before he became the true force to be reckoned with that he will be for Maddens to come.

Hall of Fame – Offense

Quarterbacks

QB2: Jared Goff (Rams) – In a cycle with an exorbitant amount of turnover at the position, Jared Goff gave the Rams something that is going to be a common theme in these harrowed groups: consistency. The Rams made a couple of deep playoff pushes and won their division more times than not, and Goff was a presence for Coach Fin throughout. 

Stats: 17,615 Passing yards, 129 passing touchdowns, 84 —> 96 overall. 

QB3: Marcus Mariota (Titans/Giants) – Remember when I said consistency would be a common theme in the quarterback group this year? I lied, a little. Marcus really peaked over seasons one through three, and that peak cannot be ignored. After racking up 39 touchdowns through the air alone in season 1, a shocking trade sent Mariota packing to New York, where in two seasons he was unrivaled in terms of efficiency, throwing only 13 interceptions in a fully healthy season 2.  One can only wonder where he might have ended up on this list, if not for another trade that sent him to Kansas City. 

Stats: 16,747 passing yards, 137 passing touchdowns, 81 —> 92 overall, 3 trades 

Honorable mentions: 

Lamar Jackson (Ravens) – The most coveted player heading into Top 19 did not disappoint, developing into one of the single best players the league has seen since its inception. A bit more consistency from Coach Willie, and we could’ve easily seen Lamar lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl or two. 

Gabriel Utecht (Titans/Bills) – Perhaps a victim of the Titans quarterback carousel, it was always going to be hard for a drafted QB to make this list based solely on counting stats, but Utecht still deserves a mention. In a heavily derided decision, the Titans took Utecht second overall and silenced the haters rather quickly, as it turned out concerns over Gabe’s ability to lead the ball downfield were greatly overstated. 

Running Backs

RB1: Saquon Barkley (Giants) – 2,161 rushing yards and 494 receiving yards in a single season. What more is there to say? It wasn’t all roses for Saquon this cycle, as he went down when the Giants needed him most, a couple of times. But there wasn’t a single player in the league who was imposing his will on games the way Barkley routinely was when he was on the field. Barkley took home an MVP trophy on the way, and could have easily added to his case if not for the aforementioned late season injuries.

Stats: 8,156 rushing yards, 81 rushing touchdowns, 83 —> 97 overall. 

RB3: Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys) – As far as Top 19’goes, Zeke was the Dallas Cowboys. A dominant Season 2 saw him rack up 26 rushing touchdowns, in spite of a Cowboys team that did not make the playoffs. This cycle will be one to remember for Elliott, but one has to wonder what he could have accomplished with a postseason berth or two.

Stats: 7,932 rushing yards, 72 rushing touchdowns, 99 overall… which seems to be a trend. 

Honorable Mentions: 

Austin Ekeler (Chargers) – B. B. B. B. B. B. AND EKELER IS IN FOR THE TOUCHDOWNNNNN.

Melvin Gordon III (Titans) – In what was a common theme for Titans players, MGIII was sent off at the height of his powers. Less than ideal injury timing is probably the only thing that costs Gordon an induction here, but he deserves a mention for what he was able to do, averaging 8.1 yards per carry over the course of Season 3. 

Todd Gurley (Rams) – Gurley vs. Zeke for the final spot was admittedly an extremely close call, but Coach Fin has nothing to be ashamed of, as Gurley took home an MVP trophy and was a key cog for a serious contender in the LA Rams. 

Wide Receivers

WR 2: Mike Evans (Buccaneers) – After accounting for over 60% of Tampa’s scores in Season 1, Evans was due for a little bit of regression, but that was still an elite player. Inarguably the deadliest red zone threat of the year, Evans was automatic on that part of the field, tallying the most touchdowns of any wideout in the league. 

Stats: 5,286 receiving yards, 52 touchdowns, 1 suspension

WR 3: Ivan Carrington (Bears) – Consistency is valued high in these rankings, but what Carrington did in a tragically short period of time upon being drafted cannot be ignored. His rookie season was the best we saw from any pass catcher this cycle, and he was a key cog in the balls-deep approach Josh Allen and the Bears took from then on out. They might not have seen much in the way of postseason success, but there wasn’t a more enjoyable QB/WR duo in Top 19.

Single Season (S4) – 1,562 receiving yards, 75 catches, 15 receiving touchdowns.

Honorable Mentions:

Dede Westbrook (Jaguars): Probably a name that not many would have expected here, (including myself… thanks Daddyleagues record page!) Dede actually had a hell of a cycle, despite the turmoil in both the front office and at the Quarterback position in Jacksonville. Westbrook very, very quietly put up the second most yards amongst Top 19’ wideouts. 

JJ Nelson (Cardinals) – While this will not be quite as funny in hindsight as Ronald Jones’ induction, JJ is a player that probably will not make this list again in the future.. Nelson racked up 1,500 yards in season 2, but was largely up and down throughout the cycle, completely disappearing from Coach Troy’s gameplan towards the end. 

Melvin Hinton (Dolphins) – You’d be hard pressed to find a drafted skill position player that was more gifted. Hinton averaged 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns over his 3 years in the league, and coupled blazing 4.3 speed with all pro tier route running and hands. The AFC East truly got lucky with him not having a full career. 

Hall of Fame – Defense

With defensive stats varying so greatly due to positional roles and schemes, we will be highlighting some of the best players on that end, rather than a position-by-position breakdown. 

Roquan Smith (Bears): While the raw counting stats might not justify a second place finish for Roquan, there simply has not been a player like him in our history. A linebacker that could have easily played D Line or even in the secondary, Roquan grew to be elite in every facet of the game. Lining up in man against receivers, blowing up runs, sacking opposing quarterbacks, you name it and Smith was there. 

Stats: 35 interceptions, 20 sacks, 14 forced fumbles, 322 tackles

Denzel Ward (Browns): The top defensive back argument for Top 19 starts and ends with Denzel Ward. Ward displayed dominance that hadn’t been seen since Darrelle Revis, and it’s easy to see why. His attributes were off the charts, as he fulfilled his potential as the number 4 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft

Stats: 98 speed and acceleration, 99 Man Coverage, 98 Zone Coverage. 

Von Miller (Buccaneers/Broncos): Von “bucced” any and all trends when it comes to regression this madden. A season 2 trade that sent him to Tampa at age 31 could have been the beginning of a steep decline, but instead Von went and recorded 25 sacks in his first full season as a Buccaneer, becoming a key piece in a dominant defensive front for Coach Jordan. 

Stats: 102 sacks, 20 forced fumbles

Melvin Ingram (Chargers): As if Joey Bosa’s dominance wasn’t enough to begin with, Melvin Ingram actually split 2 of the top 4 sack total seasons with Bosa. This stretch was rewarded with a trade to the Washington Redskins, a stint that… you know what? We should just leave it here. Credit to Coach Boom for scheming to this Chargers team’s strength. 

Stats: 2 of the 4 highest single season sack totals (32 and 28)

Dane Cruikshank (Titans/Browns): While it can be hard to gauge impact by a secondary player if you’re looking at stats alone, anybody who went up against Dane this year can testify to his impact on the field. If you were playing against Cruikshank, you knew you had your work cut out when it came to throwing the ball downfield. He was the center fielder for multiple great defenses, and won 2 titles along the way. 

Stats: 38 interceptions, 2 Super Bowl trophies

Final Words

Thank you again for reading, and expect this to be something that goes on and expands throughout the years, with more segments, more stories and better formatting. This was something that did not fully materialize until more than halfway through the cycle, and by that point it required plenty of digging for stats, both on daddyleagues and console. So again, thank you all for playing, and here’s to many of these time capsules in the future.

-Yours Truly,

Danny.