It is Madden 23 release day! For many football fans this is huge day and puts us closer to the beginning of the football season. It is always interesting to see which colleges have the most players and which ones are the top rated. Here are the top 5 Michigan Wolverines rated in Madden 23.
Tom Brady 97 Overall
Was there any question who was going to be number 1? Whatever you think of Tom Brady, there is no denying he is one of the greatest to ever play the game. His career at Michigan was just as great. He went 20-5 as a starter producing 10 win seasons in his junior and senior year. He did this largely without any running game. As a junior, he beat rival Ohio State by throwing for a then school record 375 yards on 56 pass attempts. The crown jewel moment for Brady was beating Alabama in the Orange Bowl where he led the comeback before winning in overtime. It was a team with many holes but Brady made up for a lot of issues with the roster.
Rashan Gary 89 Overall
The Packers picked Gary in the first round of the 2019 draft and took some heat for it. Gary is making them look good by becoming one of the premier edge rushers in the league. Interestingly enough, Gary never had a huge season at Michigan. His best season was 5.5 sacks during his sophomore year. He had 10 sacks throughout his career at Michigan. Despite the stats not showing it, in watching Gary, you could see he was a disruptor and that has translated to the NFL.
Taylor Lewan 81 Overall
Taylor Lewan had one of the best careers of an offensive lineman. This was shown by his draft position being taken 11th overall in the 2014 draft. As a fifth year senior, he started all 13 games at left tackle and won a slew of awards. He was a first team All American and All Big Ten first team. He won the Big Ten Rimington Pace Offensive Lineman of the year and was a semifinalist for the Rotary Lombardi award. Michigan has always had a strong running game and the offensive line is a big part of that.
Brandon Graham 80 Overall
Another edge rusher in the top 5 shows Michigan’s knack for developing edges. When you dive into the stats Brandon Graham had an amazing Michigan career. He posted 138 tackles with 56 of them being for a loss. Add in 29.5 sacks and Graham was a problem in the backfield for opposing teams. In fact 40.6 percent of his stops came from behind the line of scrimmage. That is absolutely insane. A lot of Michigan players from the 2000s get overlooked because of Michigan’s struggles but the Wolverines still cranked out great talent.
Jabrill Peppers 80 Overall
Rounding out the top 5 is FS Jabrill Peppers. His NFL career has not panned out but he was such a fun player to watch at Michigan. He was a do it all player in college. He broke up passes, he returned punts and even played some offense from time to time. This is not something that NFL teams do but college teams experiment with from time to time. None of Peppers stats will make the top of any list but the fact that he has such a diversity of stats is what made him great. Similar to Graham, he was also a player that you just had to watch play and you saw how good he was.
Honorable Mentions
Two Michigan rookies were taken in the first round of this year’s draft. Aiden Hutchinson came in at a 77 overall in Madden 23 and Daxton Hill is a 75 overall. There are a slew of other Michigan players throughout the game. While it looks like another year until we can play as the Wolverines on a video game system, Madden 23 gives us a chance to play with some of our favorite Michigan Wolverines of the past.