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Madden 22: Our 2021 NFL season sim results in some wild predictions

By Matthew Liebl

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - AUGUST 27: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs warms up prior to the preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings at Arrowhead Stadium on August 27, 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - AUGUST 27: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs warms up prior to the preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings at Arrowhead Stadium on August 27, 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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The 2020-21 NFL season officially kicked on on Thursday night with a thriller between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys. But because the 53-man roster update didn’t go live until hours before kickoff, it didn’t feel right to run our annual season simulation. Alas, the update has arrived and we have now conducted our season sim where we use Madden 22 to predict how this year’s NFL slate will play out.

Our simulation is conducted using Franchise mode with the latest roster update from EA (as of September 9). We simulate from the start to the end of the season with no user input. As a reminder, the regular season has been expanded to now include a 17th game. How will it impact the season?

Here’s how Madden 22 predicts the 2021 NFL season will unfold for each team in the league. First, we’ll cover each team’s regular-season performance before getting into the playoffs towards the end.

Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

11-6, 1st place in NFC South (No. 2 seed in NFC)

We start with the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Tom Brady returning for his 22nd NFL season, he leads Tampa Bay to a first-place finish in the NFC South. Of course, it helps that the team returned all of its starters on offense and defense.

Madden 22 predicts Brady will throw for 5,191 yards, 39 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Not bad for a 44-year-old. As for the receivers, Mike Evans leads the team in catches, yards and touchdowns, but they all put up respectable stats:

  • Mike Evans: 100 receptions; 1,325 yards; 10 touchdowns
  • Chris Godwin: 96 receptions; 999 yards; 6 touchdowns
  • Antonio Brown: 78 receptions; 1,104 yards; 9 touchdowns
  • Rob Gronkowski: 80 receptions; 828 yards; 8 touchdowns

Anytime you’ve got three receivers close to 1,000 yards in the season, you know you’re poised for a big year.  Aiding their explosive offense is a defense that was ranked first in the league with the fewest yards (5,562) and points (306) surrendered.

As you can see, the Buccaneers are poised for another big season, although they couldn’t quite lock up the bye week in the NFC. How will Tampa Bay perform in the playoffs as the No. 2 seed?

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