Madden 18 ratings for every Michigan State football player

For us sports video gamers, the annual release of Madden is essentially Christmas.

The unofficial holiday for this year comes on Aug. 25, when the game will be available worldwide. The game offers everything ranging from solo online game and single-player Franchise mode to the crown jewel of it all, Madden Ultimate Team.

If you wanted to create your Ultimate Team strictly with Michigan State players, well, you better be the best Madden player of all-time.

With about two weeks until the game's release, most — if not all — of the player ratings have been released. 

It should not be any surprise that Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell tops the #SpartanDawgs with a blistering 97 overall.

Let's take a look at the player rating for all 30 players that will be on the initial Madden rosters:

• Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh — 97
• Jack Conklin, Tennessee — 86
• Kirk Cousins, Washington — 85
• Dion Sims, Chicago — 78
• Tony Lippett, Miami — 76
• William Gholston, Tampa Bay — 76
• Trae Waynes, Minnesota — 75
• Brian Hoyer, San Francisco — 75
• Malik McDowell, Seattle — 74
• Domata Peko, Broncos — 74
• Jeremy Langford, Chicago — 74
• Darqueze Dennard, Cincinnati — 73
• Bennie Fowler, Denver — 71
• Jerel Worthy, Buffalo — 70
• Garrett Celek, San Francisco — 70
• Connor Cook, Oakland — 69
• Kurtis Drummond, Houston — 68
• Montae Nicholson, Washington — 68
• Shilique Calhoun, Oakland — 67
• Aaron Burbridge, San Francisco — 67
• Dan France, Carolina — 66
• Keshawn Martin, Lions — 66
• Drew Stanton, Arizona — 66
• Joel Heath, Houston — 65
• Marcus Rush, Kansas City — 63
• Lawrence Thomas, New York Jets — 62
• Donavon Clark, Los Angeles Chargers — 62
• R.J. Shelton, Minnesota — 61
• Riley Bullough, Tampa Bay — 61
• Jack Allen, New Orleans — 59

Players who did not make the initial Madden roster but could easily show up in updates are Josiah Price, Minnesota; Mitchell White, Philadelphia; Demetrious Cox, Cincinnati; and Monty Madaris, free agent.

Among those that could receive rating increases include Waynes, who appears to now be a full-time starter in Minnesota, and Martin, who's earning rave reviews with the Lions. On the flip side, it's likely that McDowell won't be on roster updates by the time the season rolls around. Perhaps going down even further is Dennard, who's sliding down the Bengals' depth chart.

As a regular Madden player, maybe I will create a team of all Spartans in Franchise mode, sim a season or two and see how it goes. Will I get fired before the first season is even over? It's all on the table. However, anything is possible with Lev Bell as your bell-cow and Cousins as the signal-caller, although as a lifelong Redskins fan I'm very biased in favor of No. 8.

Who do you think is overrated, underrated or properly rated?

Follow digital sports producer Phil Friend on Twitter @Phil_Friend.