Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Shaquil Barrett not top 10 pass rusher according to Madden

EA Sports released initial player ratings for their top ten pass-rushers in the NFL. According to the list, they don’t think Shaquil Barrett of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is worthy of such an honor.

It takes a lot these days for someone to admit when they’re triggered, and boy are we triggered. When it was announced ahead of time that the today was the day for the top ten pass-rushers to have their ratings released for the upcoming Madden 22, Shaq Barrett seemed like a no-brainer. They key words there are “seemed like”.

Here is the list that EA Sports put out courtesy of ESPN’s Adam Schefter:

Wow.  It’s honestly difficult to find a place to begin with this. The best way to sum it up, is that this is clearly based more on reputation than recent merit. It has to be.

Just look at the picture for this article. That is Barrett sacking Madden 22 cover boy (along with Tom Brady) and NFL golden boy Patrick Mahomes in the SUPER BOWL. His constant torment of Mahomes was one of the many main reasons the Buccaneers dominated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, and he’ll forever live in the nightmares of Mahomes. Barrett was also a force during the playoffs, sacking Aaron Rodgers three times in the NFC Championship Game. Not only that, since signing with the Buccaneers, Barrett has more sacks than that entire list, and the entire NFL.

At the end of the day, Madden ratings are essentially useless, especially the ratings that come out during training camp. However, this sort of snub can’t be ignored. Love it or hate it, Madden has become an institution, and their ratings do hold some sort of merit amongst a wide audience.  All this is is more bulletin material to fuel the Bucs in their quest to go for two as Super Bowl champions.