Rookies don't get the benefit of the doubt very often. They have to earn their spot and respect from their teammates. That's true in training camp, and it's even true for video games like Madden. EA sports released its ratings for the top 10 2014 NFL rookies in Madden 15, including Rams first-round picks Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald.
Robinson, the second overall pick, drew an 83 overall. Donald checks in with a 79 overall.
Here's how the rest of their numbers breakdown:
Robinson
Overall 83
Speed 73
Acceleration 87
Strength 93
Agility 72
Awareness 59
Run block 94
Pass block 78
Injury 95
Stamina 85
Toughness 94
Donald
Overall 79
Speed 81
Agility 93
Awareness 52
Power move 86
Finesse 70
Block shed 85
SB Nation has an interview with Donny Moore, the guy who makes the Madden ratings for rookies and other players. He starts doing this as soon as the Combine gets underway. This year he ran through about 400 players.
"It's sort of a combination of what they did measurable-wise -- what's their vertical, what's their 40 time, what's their shuttle time -- and where they actually got selected," Moore explained. "That plays a role. Just because we love Logan Thomas or Jimmy Garoppolo, we're not going to make them the top rated rookie in Madden. We want to make sure that we're in line with how the NFL teams are evaluating players."
You should definitely check out the full interview. It's pretty interesting, and includes a bit on how they make adjusted rankings as the season goes along.
As far as Donald and Robinson go, I think that seems pretty fair, based on what we've seen on tape from the two players and based on what we knew about them coming into the league. Those numbers don't have anything to do with their ceilings, and both Donald and Robinson have pretty high ceilings as far as that goes.
So what are you're thoughts, too low? Too high? Fair?