New York Jets owner blocked trade with the Broncos over a player's Madden rating

[DragonSlayer101]

WTF?! Despite a star-studded roster, the New York Jets has seen its season unraveling amid reports of widespread disenchantment among players and coaching staff alike. A new report adds more fuel to the fire, claiming that owner Woody Johnson nixed an off-season trade for star Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy simply because his Madden rating wasn't high enough.

Denver eventually traded Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns, who locked him in with a 3-year, $58 million extension. Jeudy went on to become a 1,000-yard receiver as a Brown, while the Jets are having a disastrous season, slumping to 4-10 after 14 weeks. Johnson blamed Head Coach Robert Saleh and General Manager Joe Douglas for the poor showing and have since been fired.

Anonymous sources told The Athletic that the Jeudy fiasco wasn't even the first time that Johnson cited Madden ratings to evaluate players. He had previously argued against signing guard John Simpson due to his low "Awareness" rating in Madden. However, the coaching staff had the last laugh that time around. The team signed the free agent in the off-season, and he has performed well for the Jets this year.

Some insiders believe that Johnson's teenage sons Brick and Jack are the reason why he puts so much weight on video game ratings. According to one unidentified Jets executive, Johnson has even admitted in team meetings that he bases some of his ideas on what his sons read online. Needless to say, experienced professionals in the team are frustrated that the teens' ill-informed opinions hold as much weight within the organization as their expert judgment.

Johnson's ineptitude was also on full display in September when he suggested benching future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to get the season back on track. Thankfully, the coaching staff and team officials convinced him otherwise. However, A Jets spokesperson claimed Johnson's suggestion was "in jest" to test everyone's reaction.

Another Jets spokesperson pushed back against the notion that Johnson was using Madden ratings to evaluate players. The video game ratings are "a reference point" and "not determinative" in player acquisitions. Any suggestion that Johnson used Madden ratings to override the opinion of experienced executives is "ridiculous," the spokesperson said, adding that Johnson's teen children have "no roles in the organization."

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New York Jets owner blocked trade with the Broncos over a player's Madden rating

 

[NumberNine]

This is actually real world gaming.
It's not something you do with a computer.
That's video gaming.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Didn't read this, but Americans are fascinated with stats, and some famous coach, was it in Washington or Oregon decided to select a team around stats and did quite successfully

Would be interesting the current state of play

One Stat I find interesting in Rugby is a players win/loss record in team sport, ie ignoring their individual stats, the team they are in tend to win more more when they play

Remember when I was in the UK - Vinnie Jones ( when on to become an actor ) , use to play down the road from me for Wimbledon ( where wombles are known to live and strawberry and cream )
From my untrained eyes, didn't appear to be that talented, but you could see he was a motivator . My point is probably moot as Wimbleton were crap , but they probably folded less with him on the team

So yeah State of team selections

Stats vs synergies , vs experience, and inexperience ( potential ) vs injury, vs backup/utility vs bums on seats and endorsements vs a "je ne sais quoi".

 

[toooooot]

Even if stats are not very accurate, they are tied to real data.
The one caveat there is though, sometimes a player performance degrades.
And his in game figure shows much better stats than he has in a real life.
The opposite is also true sometimes. Game statistics are fairly safe.