Falcons’ Kyle Pitts has head-scratching rating in Madden 23

The Madden video games, especially recently, have not been known for having the most accurate player ratings, and that is certainly true when you look at the Atlanta Falcons’ star tight end’s rating.

The upcoming Madden 23 is set to release on August 19th and so they are slowly starting to reveal the ratings for each position, starting with tight end and wide receiver.

Falcons Pro Bowl tight end is not rated where you would think he would be in Madden 23

Again, some of the Madden player ratings in the past have been downright confusing, so this should not come to the surprise of many but they totally messed up with the rating of one of the Atlanta Falcons’ best players.

Here are the rankings for the top ten tight ends in Madden 23:

1. Travis Kelce – 98 overall
2. George Kittle – 97 ovr
3. Mark Andrews – 93 ovr
4. Darren Waller – 91 ovr
5. TJ Hockenson – 89 ovr
6. Kyle Pitts – 87 ovr
7. Mike Gesicki – 86 ovr
8. Dallas Goedert – 85 ovr
9. Zach Ertz – 84 ovr
10. Hunter Henry – 84 ovr

The issue with this list certainly does not come with the top four, as they are big-time tight ends who have been putting up elite numbers for much longer than Kyle Pitts, even if a couple of them were not able to crack 1,000 receiving yards last season.

The issue comes with who is rated the fifth highest. How in the world is TJ Hockenson rated two points higher than Kyle Pitts?

There is absolutely no way you can look at this and not be totally confused in the end.

Let’s compare the two players’ stats from the 2021 season:

• Kyle Pitts: 17 games, 68 receptions, 1026 receiving yards, 15.1 yards per reception, 1 receiving TD
• TJ Hockenson: 12 games, 61 receptions, 583 receiving yards, 9.6 yards per reception, 4 receiving TDs

Okay, where in there does it scream “TJ Hockenson is a better player than Kyle Pitts and should have a higher overall rating?” The answer: nowhere.

Sure, Hockenson had three more receiving TDs but neither of them had enough to really consider it to be a deciding factor, and even if it was where is a guy like Pat Freiermuth who had seven touchdowns and just about as many receptions and receiving yards as TJ?

When looking at Madden ratings in the past it has sometimes come down to which player is more flashy and plays for a better team. That is certainly not the case here as Pitts was the most hyped tight end to ever enter the league, he had amazing highlights, and while he did not play on a good team, he wasn’t playing on the always bad Lions team.

Kyle Pitts is the better player, his stats show it, even if he has extremely underwhelming touchdown numbers. Pitts should without a doubt have a higher rating than Hockenson and honestly should have a rating in the low 90s.

Nothing against TJ Hockenson here, he is one of the best young talents at the position in the league, it just comes down to the simple fact that Pitts is the better player and is the best young talent at the position in the entire league. The ratings make no sense, yet again.