Hey again, Madden fans! As we wrap up 2022, we decided to take a look at the best currently available players at each position in Madden Ultimate Team. We’re starting with defense this week, and next week we’ll break down the offensive side of the ball. Here are our picks and the reasons why we chose them:
Best Defensive Players in MUT 23
LOLB: 93 OVR Micah Parsons
While we considered several players like Anthony Barr, T.J. Watt, andJoey Bosa, we settled on Micah Parsons because of his versatility. He’s an elite pass rusher with 93 finesse moves and he’s tied for the fastest OLB in the game. He also is amazing in coverage (84 MCV and 90 ZCV) for a linebacker. Parsons can equip Edge Threat Elite (a combination of Edge Threat and Under Pressure) for 3 AP and Lurker for 1 AP if you plan on usering him.
LE: 94 OVR Mario Williams
Up until his Redux was released yesterday, Mario Williams was selling for around 2,000,000 coins on all platforms. He has all the ratings you want in a pass-rushing DE: 90 speed, 92 finesse moves, 94 power moves, 94 hit power, and more. He also can equip the popular pass rush ability combo of Edge Threat and Double or Nothing for just 2 AP total (normally 6 AP). It’s hard to justify spending 2,000,000 coins on any single player in MUT, but it might be worth picking up his Redux for around 700,000 coins if you have a god squad.
DT: 95 OVR Dexter Lawrence
Lawrence is the ideal Madden DT. First, he’s huge, and that matters in Madden. At 342 pounds, he has an advantage in how blocking situations are calculated under the hood. He also has 95 power moves, 94 strength, 95 tackle, 94 block shedding, and 96 impact blocking. In terms of ability discounts, he can equip Double or Nothing for just 1 AP along with your choice of Defensive Rally (1 AP), Inside Stuff (1 AP), or Unpredictable (0 AP). Lawrence can stop the run and put pressure on opposing QBs.
RE: 95 OVR Bruce Smith (Powered Up)
We have Bruce Smith as our best available RE. He’s another elite pass rusher with 93 finesse moves, 95 power moves, 91 speed, 95 acceleration, and 95 hit power. If you’re able to spend the extra coins needed to power him up all the way, his ability discounts are absolutely insane. For just 3 AP, you get all of the following: Double or Nothing, Edge Threat Elite (Edge Threat and Under Pressure), and Instant Rebate. It’s hard to beat that value for your ability points anywhere in MUT.
ROLB: 93 OVR Lawrence Taylor
This is probably the best value pick in our entire list. Because he was included in the latest round of Starter Team packs, Harvest Lawrence Taylor’s price is down to around 200,000 coins on all platforms. He’s another elite pass rusher on this list. He has all the ratings you’re looking for and he can equip the Edge Threat, Double or Nothing combo for 3 AP total. If you would rather drop him in coverage, he surprisingly can equip Pick Artist for 0 AP.
SUBLB: 95 OVR Sean Taylor
This was the position that led to the most intense debate for us. If you would rather user the giant, Ted Hendricks, we don’t blame you. He’s 6’7” and gets Tip Drill for free. We ultimately settled on Sean Taylor because he’s more agile (93 AGI, 93 COD) and can equip Crusher for 0 AP, which is great to have to get more fumbles with your user defender. You can’t really go wrong with either of these great players.
CB1: 95 OVR Calvin Johnson
It’s always a bit weird to us when the best player at a position in MUT is someone who never actually played that position in the NFL, but that’s Madden Ultimate Team sometimes. Calvin Johnson is 6’5” and he has the second-best zone coverage (95) among all CBs. He can equip Pick Artist for 0 AP and Deep Out Zone KO for just 1 AP at the same time. He’s ridiculously good. If you run man coverage almost exclusively, there are probably better options for your scheme, but for anyone else, Megatron is a must-add if you can afford him.
SS: 95 OVR John Lynch
This was another position where Ted Hendricks could easily be ranked #1. We went with Lynch because of his significant advantage in man coverage (Lynch has 88, Hendricks has 71) and Lynch has the better ability discounts. Lynch can equip Deep Out Zone KO for just 1 AP along with your choice between Crusher (0 AP), Deep In Zone KO (1 AP), and Pick Artist (1 AP). Really though, both Lynch and Hendricks are amazing options at SS and have different strengths and weaknesses.
MLB: 93 OVR Isaiah Simmons
We know most of your middle linebackers never see the field, but we chose our favorite MLB anyways. Isaiah Simmons is the fastest linebacker in the game (93 SPD). He’s also 6’4” with amazing coverage ratings (84 MCV, 92 ZCV) and 93 hit power. If you’re the rare MUT player that prefers to user a middle linebacker over a safety, just make sure you equip Lurker for 1 AP on Simmons.
FS: 94 OVR Steve Atwater
Atwater was our consensus pick for a true free safety. He has the ratings you’re looking for in a deep safety along with amazing ability discounts. Atwater is 6’3” with 94 speed, 94 zone coverage, and 95 hit power. He can equip Pick Artist for 0 AP alongside Deep In Zone KO for just 1 AP. At around 400,000 coins on all platforms, he’s somewhat expensive, but we feel he’s worth it.
CB2: 93 OVR Tariq Woolen
EA asked us to round out the list with one more CB. Blitz Night Train Lane was strongly considered for this spot, but we decided to go with Tariq Woolen after some debate. Woolen is 6’4” with 93 speed, 92 man coverage, 93 zone coverage, 93 press, and 95 jumping. He has defended high-ball aggressive catch attempts better than any DB we’ve used this season (we don’t have enough reps with Calvin yet). He can equip Tip Drill for 0 AP to force turnovers on dropped passes. The best part though is his price. LTD Woolen is selling for around 420,000 coins right now, and when you’re done with him, you can quicksell him to recover 350,000 of that. If you don’t care about the quicksell value, go for the Redux which is about 100,000 coins cheaper.
Give Us Your Feedback
This was a tough task and there was a lot of internal debate that led to this list. We’re sure none of your lists would match our list exactly, and we want to hear from you. What would you do differently and why?
Thanks again to Hurc and Hodgey from the MUT.GG Discord server for their analysis. Also, a huge thanks to antcap24 of Huddle.gg for sharing some of his deep MUT knowledge with us. We’ll be back next week with the best offensive players in MUT. Until then, have a great weekend and we hope you’re having fun with Zero Chill content!
