What We Learned About the New QB Throwing Styles in Madden 20

We are roughly one month away from the early release of Madden 20, which means lots of news details, and videos will begin to emerge. EA released a blog breaking down the new changes that have been made to the quarterback position. The news that was released included different throwing stances, passing motions and overall changes to throwing styles.

So let’s take a look what we learned from EA’s Madden 20 blog on throwing styles.

What We Like

• EA took the time to make some of the league’s top quarterbacks stand out from the crowd. And this was evident when playing the beta with guys like Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees and Tom Brady. These QBs have their signature stances, throwing motions and release points — among other traits. Now the elite playmakers will feel like their real-life counterparts. EA is nailing this so far so we just hope more players at other positions get similar treatment in the future.
• There were significant changes made surrounding depth of throws. Furthermore, the way they altered the QB’s release point is fascinating. In the past, a throw 50 yards downfield would still fly out of the QB’s hand the same way a short crossing route would. Not this year. The football acts differently based on three different depth points in Madden 20. Those depth points are short/medium, deep and Hail Mary. If it’s a deep pass, the QB will need to wind up his arm, taking longer to release the football.
• Equally as interesting is how they made things more difficult based on where the throw is located. For instance, if a QB is throwing over the middle, he won’t have to move his body, which means the ball will come out quicker. The same is true if he were to have to move his body for a ball thrown to one of the hashes, for example. EA mentioned that for a right-handed QB throwing to the left would be the most difficult, and vice versa for left-handed QBs. This is the type of realism Madden has lacked over the last several years.

What We Do Not Like

• For as much time and effort as the EA team put into some of the game’s top quarterbacks, it would have been nice to see it done to a vast majority of the starters. Additionally, when compared to how much time is spent capturing the realism of the pitching/batting stances in MLB The Show or the signature shooting motions in NBA 2K, it falls flat. This is the only NFL game on the market. It would be nice to see a little bit more time spent on these aspects.
• EA took the time to make three different tiers for quarterbacks and their quick releases. Aaron Rodgers will be the fastest and Nick Foles will be the slowest “due to his slower throwing motion.” There will be a middle “superstar tier” that will be for the remaining starting QBs. Lastly, there is a generic tier that will contain the remaining QBs. This is a fair way to do things if you can’t get all the QBs, but I would have liked to see these tiers spread out a bit more. Along those same lines, the overall standardizing of the system could make quarterbacks feel too much of the same.

Conclusion

Some people may or may not even notice the differences to some of these adjustments. But for the longtime Madden fan, this is the type of realism we all want to see more of moving forward.