EA Sports released the list of those who made the "99 club" for Madden NFL 27 on Monday. Here are those whose ratings simply couldn't go any higher: Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, Myles Garrett, Ja'Marr Chase, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Trey McBride.
The fact that the Arizona Cardinals tight end is up there with these superstar names should end the positional debate once and for all.
Trey McBride's spot in the "99 club" proves he's truly among the elite
Despite McBride's career season in The Valley, some still consider Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers to be the best at the position. For instance, FanSided recently released their top 50 rankings, where McBride came in at No. 37, a few spots below Bowers at No. 33.
We made the case for why McBride was somehow still being underrated, and the elite 99 tier he finds himself in on Madden is just another example of the wide range of how he's viewed. Everyone else who made Madden's 99 club is inside the top 10 on FanSided's rankings. It goes to show just how difficult it is to differentiate a player's talent and skill set compared to their value and importance.
On one hand, it feels strange to give a tight end of a three-win team a 99 rating. Had that been a quarterback, it surely wouldn't have been a three-win team.
On the other hand, when you compare McBride's impact to the rest of the tight ends around the league, you can easily see the positional advantage that the Cardinals have.
The Cardinals' best player shouldn't be a tight end
That could explain the disparity. Madden acknowledges McBride to be the best at the position, while FanSided could be factoring in more of the positional value of having such an elite tight end.
That also underscores the biggest problem with this Cardinals roster. They have prioritized talent over positional value, which has been apparent between the Marvin Harrison Jr. and more recently, Jeremiyah Love selections, both of which were in the top five.
Arizona is building a fun fantasy football squad with their running backs, wide receivers, and tight end being some of the best positions on the entire roster. That's not quite how you should go about winning in the NFL, and in fact is backward to how we would approach the roster construction, prioritizing the trenches and ideally the quarterback position first.
So while it's awesome and even deserved that McBride joins an exclusive club, the fact that he's the only tight end to make the list shows that the Cardinals aren't necessarily constructing this roster in the right way.
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