Game Notes

  • Release date: August 12, 2003 (Based on on the 2003 NFL season.)
  • Cover athlete: Michael Vick QB Atlanta Falcons (Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation, PS2, Xbox, Windows PC)

Player Notes

  • 99 Overall Club: WR Marvin Harrison (Colts), WR Terrell Owens (49ers), MLB Ray Lewis (Ravens), ROLB Derrick Brooks (Buccaneers), FS Brian Dawkins (Eagles), K Adam Vinatieri (Patriots)

AFC North Rosters

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Pittsburgh Steelers
86 OVR
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Baltimore Ravens
82 OVR
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Cincinnati Bengals
81 OVR
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Cleveland Browns
80 OVR

AFC East Rosters

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Miami Dolphins
88 OVR
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New England Patriots
86 OVR
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Buffalo Bills
85 OVR
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New York Jets
84 OVR

AFC South Rosters

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Tennessee Titans
85 OVR
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Indianapolis Colts
83 OVR
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Jacksonville Jaguars
82 OVR
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Houston Texans
80 OVR

AFC West Rosters

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Oakland Raiders
87 OVR
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Denver Broncos
84 OVR
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Kansas City Chiefs
84 OVR
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San Diego Chargers
83 OVR

NFC North Rosters

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Green Bay Packers
87 OVR
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Chicago Bears
82 OVR
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Minnesota Vikings
82 OVR
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Detroit Lions
80 OVR

NFC East Rosters

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Philadelphia Eagles
87 OVR
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New York Giants
85 OVR
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Washington Redskins
82 OVR
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Dallas Cowboys
81 OVR

NFC South Rosters

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers
88 OVR
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Atlanta Falcons
84 OVR
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New Orleans Saints
83 OVR
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Carolina Panthers
82 OVR

NFC West Rosters

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St. Louis Rams
86 OVR
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San Francisco 49ers
86 OVR
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Seattle Seahawks
84 OVR
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Arizona Cardinals
78 OVR

NFL Europe Rosters

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Amsterdam Admirals
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Barcelona Dragons
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Berlin Thunder
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Frankfurt Galaxy
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Rhein Fire
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Scottish Claymores

Other Rosters

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Free Agents

Files


---> Source: EA Sports
---> Info: Roster spreadsheet file containing full player ratings for all 32 NFL teams.

Info Photos

Team Uniforms

Screenshots Photo Gallery


​Madden NFL 2004 Ratings & History
Madden NFL 2004 captures an interesting snapshot of the NFL during the early 2000s. The player ratings from this release include established legends, players entering their primes, and stars who would go on to define the decade.
MaddenRatings.net preserves the historical player ratings from Madden NFL 2004 so fans can look back at how players were evaluated during this era.
The Madden NFL 2004 ratings database contains 1,990 player records, including player names, teams, positions, overall ratings, ages, salaries, contract information, and individual attributes.
This page provides both the historical ratings data and additional analysis of what makes the Madden NFL 2004 ratings interesting.

Madden NFL 2004 Player Ratings
The Madden NFL 2004 database provides much more information than overall ratings alone.
Each player record can include attributes such as: Overall rating, Speed, Strength, Awareness, Agility, Acceleration, Catching, Carrying, Jumping, Break Tackle, Tackle, Throw Power, Throw Accuracy, Pass Block, Run Block, Kick Power, Kick Accuracy, Kick Return, Stamina, Injury, Toughness

This makes Madden NFL 2004 useful as a historical snapshot of how individual players were represented inside the game.

The Highest-Rated Players
The top of the Madden NFL 2004 ratings isn't limited to one position.
Several of the game's most recognizable players were rated between 97 and 99 overall.
Among the highest-rated players in the supplied database are:
  • Ray Lewis — 99 OVR
  • Adam Vinatieri — 99 OVR
  • Terrell Owens — 99 OVR
  • Brian Dawkins — 99 OVR
  • Marvin Harrison — 99 OVR
  • Derrick Brooks — 99 OVR
  • Brett Favre — 98 OVR
  • Larry Allen — 98 OVR
  • Jonathan Ogden — 98 OVR
  • Orlando Pace — 98 OVR
  • Champ Bailey — 98 OVR
  • Michael Strahan — 98 OVR
  • Will Shields — 98 OVR
  • Warren Sapp — 98 OVR
  • Randy Moss — 98 OVR
This group demonstrates how highly Madden NFL 2004 rated elite players across the entire roster rather than concentrating the highest ratings exclusively at quarterback.

Brett Favre and the Quarterback Ratings
Brett Favre is one of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the Madden NFL 2004 database, with a 98 overall rating.
Favre's individual attributes also stand out.
His Throw Power is rated 99, the highest Throw Power rating in the supplied database.
His combination of a 98 overall rating and 99 Throw Power makes him one of the most interesting quarterback records in Madden NFL 2004.
Rich Gannon is another highly rated quarterback, with a 97 overall rating and 98 Throw Accuracy.
These ratings provide a useful example of how overall rating and individual attributes could tell different parts of a player's story.

Randy Moss and Champ Bailey: 99 Speed
Speed is one of the most recognizable attributes in Madden, and the Madden NFL 2004 database contains two especially notable players.
Randy Moss — 99 Speed
Champ Bailey — 99 Speed
Both players are also rated 98 overall.
Moss is listed as a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, while Bailey is listed as a cornerback for Washington.
Having two 98 overall players at completely different positions with the maximum 99 Speed rating shows how the same attribute could define very different types of elite players.

Marvin Harrison's 99 Catching
Marvin Harrison is another standout in the Madden NFL 2004 database.
Harrison is rated:
99 OVR
99 Catching
His 99 Catching rating is the highest Catching rating in the supplied dataset.
That combination makes Harrison one of the clearest examples of a player whose individual attribute matches his elite overall rating.

Larry Allen's 99 Strength
Dallas Cowboys guard Larry Allen has one of the most extreme physical ratings in the database.
Allen is rated 98 overall with 99 Strength.
His rating is particularly notable when compared with the skill-position players near the top of the overall rankings.
A 99 Strength rating illustrates how Madden's attribute system could represent different types of dominance depending on a player's position.

Ray Lewis and Awareness
Ray Lewis is rated 99 overall and has 99 Awareness in the Madden NFL 2004 dataset.
He is one of the six players at the maximum overall rating and has the highest Awareness rating recorded in the spreadsheet.
His combination of overall rating and Awareness makes him one of the defining defensive players in the Madden NFL 2004 database.

Adam Vinatieri's Unusual 99 Overall Rating
One of the more interesting details in the Madden NFL 2004 ratings is Adam Vinatieri.
Vinatieri is rated 99 overall, making him one of only six players at the maximum overall rating.
He also has a 95 Kick Accuracy rating and 92 Kick Power.
His presence in the 99 Club is notable because he is a kicker rather than a traditional skill-position or defensive player.
It demonstrates that the highest overall ratings in Madden NFL 2004 were not limited to quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, or defensive stars.

Special Teams Standouts
The Madden NFL 2004 database also contains interesting ratings for kickers and return specialists.
Adam Vinatieri is rated 99 overall with 95 Kick Accuracy.
Sebastian Janikowski has the highest Kick Power rating in the database at 98.
Desmond Howard has a 99 Kick Return rating.
These numbers provide another reason to look beyond overall ratings when exploring historical Madden data.

Madden NFL 2004 Team Ratings
The player database can also be used to examine the players representing each NFL team during the era.
Rather than treating a team's overall strength as a single number, the individual player ratings provide a way to examine how that roster was constructed.
A team could have elite players at several positions while having lower-rated players elsewhere on the roster.
This makes the Madden NFL 2004 player database useful for examining the strengths and weaknesses of individual rosters.

Madden NFL 2004 and the NFL of the Early 2000s
The ratings in Madden NFL 2004 provide a time capsule of professional football.
Many players who are now remembered as legends were still active NFL players, while other stars were still developing.
Players such as Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, Champ Bailey, Brian Dawkins, Larry Allen, Jonathan Ogden, and Warren Sapp all appear among the highest-rated players in the database.
At the same time, the ratings also preserve players who may be less prominent in today's discussions but were important parts of NFL rosters during this period.

Looking Beyond the Overall Rating
One of the most useful features of the Madden NFL 2004 database is the ability to look beyond the overall number.
For example:
Brett Favre — 98 OVR and 99 Throw Power
Randy Moss — 98 OVR and 99 Speed
Champ Bailey — 98 OVR and 99 Speed
Marvin Harrison — 99 OVR and 99 Catching
Larry Allen — 98 OVR and 99 Strength
Ray Lewis — 99 OVR and 99 Awareness
These examples demonstrate that Madden ratings were built from numerous individual attributes.
The overall rating tells part of the story, while the individual attributes provide additional information about what made each player valuable.

Madden NFL 2004 Ratings as a Historical Resource
The value of the Madden NFL 2004 database goes beyond identifying the highest-rated players.
It allows fans to revisit a specific point in NFL history and examine how players were evaluated at the time.
A player who later became a Hall of Famer may have been rated very differently earlier in his career.
Likewise, established veterans could be approaching the end of their careers while still carrying elite ratings.
By preserving the complete player dataset, MaddenRatings.net allows these comparisons to be made years after the original game was released.
 
Madden Ratings Analysis
Madden NFL 2004 is particularly interesting because the highest-rated players represent a wide range of positions.
The six 99 overall players include two wide receivers, three defensive players, and a kicker.
The next group of 98 overall players includes quarterbacks, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers, cornerbacks, and wide receivers.
That makes the ratings useful as a historical snapshot of how Madden represented elite performance across the entire NFL.
The individual attributes make the database even more interesting.
Randy Moss and Champ Bailey both receive 99 Speed despite playing completely different positions. Brett Favre receives 99 Throw Power, Marvin Harrison receives 99 Catching, Larry Allen receives 99 Strength, and Ray Lewis receives 99 Awareness.
Those details help turn a simple overall-rating list into a much richer picture of how Madden evaluated players.

Notable Madden NFL 2004 Ratings
Highest Overall Rating
99 OVR
Six players share the highest overall rating in the supplied dataset.
Highest Speed
99 Speed
Randy Moss and Champ Bailey.
Highest Strength
99 Strength
Larry Allen.
Highest Awareness
99 Awareness
Ray Lewis.
Highest Catching
99 Catching
Marvin Harrison.
Highest Throw Power
99 Throw Power
Brett Favre.
Highest Throw Accuracy
98 Throw Accuracy
Rich Gannon.
Highest Kick Power
98 Kick Power
Sebastian Janikowski.
Highest Kick Accuracy
95 Kick Accuracy
Adam Vinatieri.
Highest Kick Return
99 Kick Return

Explore More Madden Ratings History
Madden NFL 2004 is one release in the larger historical MaddenRatings.net database.
Explore other Madden releases to compare player ratings across different eras and see how the ratings of legendary players changed throughout their careers.
The historical database can also be used to examine individual attributes, compare players at the same position, and revisit the NFL as it was represented in different generations of Madden.