It’s ritualistic.
Before even booting up an exhibition game in Madden, the first order of business is to go peruse the ratings and see which team is going to earn your allegiance—that is, of course, before we get to a roster update. Then all bets are off and the process starts itself all over again.
In recent years, EA Sports has built a marketing campaign around revealing the ratings of players in their latest installment of their tentpole franchise, Madden NFL. Just last week, the team revealed the four players who earned the coveted 99 overall rating—the best overall rating a player can receive in Madden NFL 20.