Minkah Fitzpatrick came in as a 93 out of 100 score in recently released Madden 24 ratings, the second highest-ranked safety in the game behind the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James.
It’s a boost for Fitzpatrick, who was ranked fifth-among safeties as an 89 overall in last year’s game. I still think a 93 rating is too low, and it’s hard to argue that James is a better all-around safety than Fitzpatrick. But the days of Madden actually being a realistic football simulation are long gone, so it’s no surprise that it went with James as its top-ranked safety.
We don’t know individual ability ratings yet, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if James got a boost due to his pass-rushing skills. He had four sacks last season but finished with four less interceptions than Fitzpatrick with two. Given the weight given to some individual attributes, a few extra points in some of those stats could help give him the two-point boost overall.
Fitzpatrick came in ahead of Justin Simmons of the Denver Broncos and Kevin Byard of the Tennessee Titans, both of whom were a 92 overall. Former Cincinnati Bengals and current Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III came in as a 91 overall, while the Buffalo Bills’ safety duo of Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde were both 90 overall.
Justin Jefferson was also revealed as a 99 overall earlier today, but we’re still waiting on the majority of ratings to be released. Only Jefferson and the top 10 safeties have been released as of this morning, but throughout the week more ratings will drop. Madden has partnered with ESPN to slowly release the rankings throughout ESPN programming across the week.
If this year is like past years, I’m sure Steelers fans will have a lot of gripes about where the team ends up rating-wise on the initial launch. But Fitzpatrick getting a nice little boost is well-deserved, and I’m excited to see where other guys end up as the ratings continue to get released.
