Underrated: Michael Badgley, 71
Most of my disagreements with Madden’s rankings are generally slight. As you’ve seen on this list so far, it’s mostly guys that have been within five or six points of EA’s rating for them. With Michael Badgley, that disagreement is a little more intense.
EA ranks Badgley as a 71. They have him as the 25th best kicker in the league. That almost makes it seem like they haven’t watched Badgley at all. Badgley is 28-32 (88%) on field goals since becoming a member of the Chargers. He’s 46-47 (98%) on extra points.
Perhaps EA is considering the injury that made the Money Badger miss some time last year, but that seems like particularly flimsy reasoning considering some of the kickers ahead of him. Jason Sanders barely made 75% of his field goals last year and he’s above Badgley?
Many will point to Badgley’s kickoff ability is a knock against him, but I simply don’t think it’s enough reason to put him at 25th in the league with his generally very high accuracy on field goals and extra points. He also did kick the longest field goal in Chargers’ history, so he’s still got a boot.
What it should be: 80
Bosa and Taylor strike me as slightly underrated in the new Madden ratings, while King and Harris strike me as slightly overrated. Badgley is a more severe disagreement for me, as it feels like Madden hasn’t honestly acknowledged how good of a kicker he has been after years of suffering at the position for the Chargers.
Which LA Chargers did you think were overrated and underrated? Let us know in the comments below!