Jets’ weirdest Madden rating proves rising star LB remains wildly underrated

The New York Jets have one of the best linebacker duos in the NFL entering the 2025 season. Quincy Williams is a former All-Pro who remains one of the most dynamic players at his position in the sport. Jamien Sherwood is fresh off a breakout 2024 campaign in which he received All-Pro votes.

That notion is shared by essentially anyone with adequate ball knowledge, be it fans, media, or even NFL decision-makers. I suppose it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, then, that the all-knowing game developers over at EA Sports don't see it that way.

The Madden video game franchise isn't exactly known for producing the best quality content, and its rating system is more broken than the Jets' 2024 organizational structure. Still, usually the player ratings have some basis in reality.

That can't be said about Sherwood's ranking, however. For some unknown reason, Sherwood has been given a lowly 74 OVR rating in Madden 26. That's below players like Derrick Nnadi (who likely will not make the 53-man roster), Allen Lazard, Tony Adams, and even tied with third-round rookie Azareye'h Thomas.

Someone make it make sense.

Jets' LB Jamien Sherwood disrespected by bizarre Madden 26 rating

A fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Sherwood converted from safety to linebacker in the NFL and spent the first few years of his career as a backup/special-teamer before receiving a golden opportunity this past season.

Sherwood was thrust into the starting lineup early in the year following an injury to C.J. Mosley, and the former Auburn star made the most of it. He finished with a 73.8 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked 18th among 84 qualified linebackers.

His performance was impressive enough for him to receive All-Pro votes at the end of the year. Sherwood was also named an honorable mention in ESPN's anonymous poll of NFL execs, scouts, coaches, etc., ranking the top-10 linebackers in football.

That means at least one or two NFL personnel in the poll believed Sherwood was among the best players at his position in the sport. The Madden ratings team seems to have missed that memo, however.

Sherwood is tied for the 32nd-best middle linebacker in the game, meaning that Madden barely believes he's a starting-caliber player. He's rated below former Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler Deion Jones, who appeared in just two games last season as a member of the Buccaneers' practice squad and hasn't been a starter in nearly half a decade.

There is no logical basis behind Sherwood's rating, unless the Madden ratings team simply didn't watch him play football last season. On second thought, yeah, that's probably exactly what happened here.

Sherwood isn't alone in the disrespect, for what it's worth. Even his position-mate, Quincy Williams, received just an 82 OVR rating from the game. Madden clearly doesn't view either Sherwood or Williams as a particularly high-level starter.

Evidently, the Jets disagree. They re-signed Sherwood to a three-year, $45 million contract this offseason, making him the fifth-highest-paid off-ball linebacker in the NFL in terms of average annual value.

The Jets — and other NFL decision-makers — rightfully view Sherwood as one of the best young linebackers in the NFL. Madden should stick to farming microtransactions on Ultimate Team and leave the player evaluations to the actual ball-knowers.

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