Every team hopes to put themselves in a
position to not only compete, but hold their spot in the Premier Madden League.
What is a teams realistic ceiling in season 2? How good can each team be with
their current roster, user, and divisional foes? Or how badly can things fall
apart? Lets dive into NFC…
NFC East (Arod)
Cowboys
Ceiling: 11-6, Conference round
The good news for the Cowboys is they get 6
games within their division, and then get to play the AFC North and NFC South.
If the Cowboys can nail a good percentage of these games, I think that Drama
could easily eclipse 11 wins and take the division for a 2nd straight year. He
had a few big wins against top tier users last year, and even a few close ones
as well. He has the roster to compete with almost any team in this league and
the bar is always set high for Drama to back up what he says. A trip to the
conference round this year is not out of the realm of possibilities.
Floor: 8-9, miss playoffs
I think the Cowboys missed their chance last
season to make some noise in the playoffs, and I think that was their only
chance for the cycle. How to we say it in other words? The Cowboys have
already peaked for the entire cycle. I think the way we seen them collapse
down the stretch has a chance to trickle into the upcoming season and the
Cowboys struggle to maintain .500. Which one is the more realistic
possibility? I still have to say the ceiling of 11 wins holds true based on
the schedule.
Eagles
Ceiling: 11-6, Conference round
The Eagles played a lot better the second half
of the season and surprised many people with a few key upsets. I think they
are a bit more confident heading into the second season and may ride the wave.
I will keep pounding at the schedule the division has this year and attribute
that to some of the success they will have. But hey, if the Eagles win the
games they’re supposed to and take the division, we’ve seen HD take down some
of the better users in the league.
Floor: 6-11, Miss playoffs
I wish I could set the floor a bit lower, but
I cannot possibly with their schedule and roster. There is no way they should
reach the floor, but with HD you cannot predict ever if he is racing for a
wildcard spot or a top 3 draft pick. The Eagles may have one of the biggest
ranges from ceiling to floor of any team in PML this season as they are surely
unpredictable.
Giants
Ceiling: 10-7, Win division
I mean, I can’t count Burn out in this race.
They are surely the darkhorse and there are even a few who believe he can win
this division this season. I think a lot would have to happen for the Giants
to overcome the rosters of the Cowboys and Eagles, and his mediocre gameplay
season 2 didn’t exactly scream out to us. But Burn is slowly putting a roster
together to compete with arguably the two most complete rosters in the league
and he could shock us all and steal it season 2.
Floor: 4-13, Miss playoffs
They finished 5-12 last season, and made a few
adjustments to the roster. So how can they possibly go backwards? The only
way I see this happening is if Drama and HD compete at a high level, and Miles
is able to either sweep Burn, or split. Another top 5 selection could be in
store for the Giants if this could happen.
Commanders
Ceiling: 4-13, Miss playoffs
Miles is making his return to PML after a year
off and participating in the Evolve league. Taking over a roster such as the
Commanders season 2 is never easy and he has his work cutout for him early on
to keep up with some of the better and more established rosters in the league.
I think the Commanders remain in rebuild mode in Miles first season as he gets
his feet wet and back up to speed with PML.
Floor: 0-17, 1st overall pick
Miles last stint in the league, he didn’t win
a game, and gave Arod his first win in like forever. So the confidence level
is not exactly high in Washington right now. The first overall pick could
trend the roster in the right direction for season 3 and the Commanders, if
they could show fight this year, could convince people they are contenders in
the division. But until we see otherwise, the floor holds where Miles last
left off. He does play Arod this season in what could be the Greatest Toilet
Bowl PML has ever seen.
NFC North (Codes)
Bears
Ceiling: 12-5, Super Bowl
Jefe exceeded everyone’s expectations by going
11-6 and making the NFC championship game with a low tier team like the Bears.
This offseason his team has had some huge upgrades… he’s added 2 edge rushers
with abilities Joey Bosa and Danielle Hunter. Then he had the #2 overall pick
and added a generational WR with 95 speed and a 6’4 frame in Marvin Harrison
Jr. With all these new additions I think there is no way he is worse than last
year.
Floor: 10-7, 7th seed Wildcard exit
I don’t think there’s any way Jefe misses the
playoffs, but the NFC was a very tight race last year and he was one game away
from missing it last year. I think that could be the same this year and 10-7
gets you the 7th seed. Then you go into the playoffs with no homefield
advantage and anything can happen. Your floor being the playoffs is a huge
compliment.
Vikings
Ceiling: 10-7, Divisional Round
Wimmy is known to be a winner in PML and can
go on crazy runs that leads to deep playoff runs. With Kirk out and rookie
Milton in, maybe we will see Wimmy turn his cycle around. Looking at the
Vikings schedule he has many winnable games, if he performs like the Wimmy we
know he can make the playoffs as a Wildcard team and go on one of those famous
Wimmy runs.
Floor: 5-12, Misses Playoffs
Wimmy was very disappointing last season and
didn’t make many beneficial moves in the offseason. He lost Kirk who is (for
now) better than Milton by a large margin and he lost his XF edge rusher Hunter
to a division rival. If he went 7-10 with them, I can definitely see it getting
worse without them.
Packers
Ceiling: 14-3, Super Bowl
This is the best team I have seen Mike have.
He has a jukebox RB, a 6’4 97 speed WR, great oline, inside stuff Kenny Clark,
no outsiders Rashan Garry, Jaire, and 95 speed Stokes. I was surprised he got
beat in the first round last year, but Mike is a walking Super Bowl appearance
every cycle. He has the team to do it and I believe he will.
Floor: 11-6, Wildcard
Mike sometimes has a habit of becoming more
disinterested as the cycle continues, it’s only season 2 so I don’t think he
will be that disinterested… but he went 12-5 last year, he could easily lose
one more game. Then make the playoffs and have the same result he had last
season, which is a Wildcard loss.
Lions
Ceiling: 11-6, Divisional Round
Fallen has the perfect offense for his
playstyle: a 95 speed RB with jukebox, a 98 speed WR, a 6’4 94 speed WR, and a
great oline. His defense isn’t exactly the best on paper, but he just added
Chris Jones, who is exactly what you want as the anchor of your defense.
Floor: 6-11, Misses Playoffs
Like I said his offense is great, but Fallen
is known to be very predictable with his playcalls and his defense is still
weak. Jamo is suspended for the first few games as well, so he might lose all 4
not having his best weapon. Starting off 0-4 is an easy way to find yourself on
the couch come playoff time.
NFC West (Codes)
Rams
Ceiling: 12-5, Super Bowl
Cook just won the SB with one of the worst
rosters in the game (I don’t care if he has Kupp and Donald, it’s a 53 man
roster not a 2 man roster) and even though he lost Stafford, he made a lot of
great pickups in the draft. You can’t look at the SB winning roster that made
improvements and say the ceiling is anything less than another one.
Floor: 10-7, Misses Playoffs
I know, I just talked about how the SB winning
roster made improvements… however Cook was the 7th seed and was close to
missing the playoffs. The NFC West is pretty stacked and it’s always going to
be a tight race until the end in the NFC. The team lost their starting QB and
Cook is going to be rocking either Winston or his 20 year old rookie,
regardless I think that could come back to haunt him.
Cardinals
Ceiling: 10-7, Wildcard
Even though he went 5-12 last year, Kyler was
out for a good part of the season. He made a lot of great offseason moves. His
team is a lot better than it was last year and he will have the 4th place
schedule in the division.
Floor: 8-9, Miss Playoffs
Even though he made a lot of great moves, he
still has a lot of holes. He was given THE worst team in the game and it’s
going to take more than one offseason to get them where he wants them. He still
plays his division mates 6x a year and they all made the playoffs. He has 11
out of 17 games vs playoff teams. 8-9 isn’t bad all things considered.
Seahawks
Ceiling: 13-4, NFC Championship
Z is one of the best users in PML and he has
his team. He just went 12-5 and I personally think his team got better, he
didn’t have a lot of aging talent to begin with. I think he can make it to the
Championship game, however I do think his QB is going to get him in trouble. Z
can get it done with any QB in the regular season because he’s great at
managing games, but in a game where everything is on the line and you need your
QB to go win you the game and no longer manage it… I don’t know if I want Geno
Smith or rookie Bo Nix to be the guy I rely on.
Floor: 12-5, Wildcard
Z will never have a bad regular season record,
I mean this as a compliment… he might be the best regular season player in all
of PML. We have Hypemike’s who hide stuff come playoff time, we have
Cooks/Wimmy’s who maybe take a relaxed approach to the regular season, and then
there are Z’s who want to win everything they ever compete in (which is the
best way). However, he did just lose in the Wildcard so for me that’s the obvious
floor.
49ers
Ceiling: 12-5, Wildcard
I can’t see him having a better season than he
did last year. He still does have a top team and the other teams in his
division are weaker by 2-3 team overalls. He could use that to his advantage to
make the playoffs once again.
Floor: 5-12, Miss Playoffs
We saw Madden 23 CEO come out in the playoffs
vs Jefe, it was a disgusting performance that could affect the rest of his
cycle. Everyone knows what CEO wants to do on offense and he just drafted TWO
QBs which makes me believe maybe he thinks Purdy isn’t HIM. The funny thing is
the rookie QBs have 86 and 87 throw power, which sounds like Purdy 2.0 and
Purdy 3.0. I don’t think he makes the playoffs this season, has QB battles, and
falls back into washed CEO (Madden 23)
NFC South (Matigy)
Falcons
Ceiling: 11-6 wild card Loss
Falcons made some moves last szn acquiring
jaylen waddle and after losing first one or two with them they went on a streak
that propelled them to the opportunity of a playoff spot but ultimately folded.
Looking into the new season with a full training camp and preseason of the best
young weapon core in the NFL the falcons are looking to build upon their streak
and make the playoffs.
Floor: 7-10
I heavily doubt nef will win this div. Saints
just have a big user skill gap and this schedule is kind of a trap for nef. I
think he’s gonna start off hot and lose a lot in the back half of the season to
ultimately have another season considered a fold.
Panthers
Ceiling: 5-12 missed playoffs
Coming off a 3-14 season where they didn’t
have their 1st, I think it’s fair to say they were trying their hardest to win
but just couldn’t find a way with this poverty franchise. A lot of new blood
with 26 rookies. The best ones focusing on DL, OL, DB. Along with a new future
RB1 in town 20 yo Braylon Allen. Also added ekler to help out with the workload
and ease Allen into things. I expect him to start slow and finish strong
Floor: 2-15 missed playoffs
This will also be the first draft the panthers
have their own first this cycle so I could see it being relaxed vibes out there
and overall I don’t think this team got any better immediately from this
offszn. They lost their CB1 and have nobody else of that caliber, so I think
will see it come to fruition near the end of this season once all these rookies
get more comfortable in the NFL
Buccaneers
Ceiling: 11-6 wildcard Loss
7-6 with Baker, 0-4 without. I feel like this
team is pretty similar besides no Mike Evans, one of the better rookie RTs and
some very raw athletes. I think this team does kinda ride on cammys draft class
to see if they can truly help him be a playoff team. I’m not too sure what’s
all happening here but you got Roman Wilson maybe as a WR3, roc Taylor could be
a 95 speed RB or give u a better WR3. You got a raw TE with ur first round pick
that is now expected to perform day 1, and raw cb to fill out what would be a
very nice group if he plays like pick #14. So it’ll be very interesting to see
how this team does
Floor: 8-9 Missed playoffs
Very good chance this team starts off 0-2
facing cowboys & rams so that could start a downward spiral and make this
szn a lot tougher. And if those rookies don’t perform I don’t see this being a
good team tbh. I think they will once they get their AR but he needs them to be
good on day 1 and I don’t know if that will happen.
Saints
Ceiling: 13-4 champ game loss
Coming off a 13-4 season where they
undoubtedly showed that they are the best user in the NFC South. They added
some future cornerstones at TE& MLB. Also picked up freak 6’7 WR Johnny
Wilson. I think jc will continue his dominance over his div and win it again.
Was on absolute fire for most of the season on offense and this record is with
him losing most of his tough games.
Floor: 11-6 Wildcard loss
I don’t think Jc has missed the playoffs since
I’ve been here and overall I think his playstyle is easy for him to replicate
over and over so there’s alot of consistency in his performance. Saints I don’t
think are too different. Some older guys got worse but u got better in other
areas so I believe another playoff appearance is in store for these saints.
