The folks at EA Sports are releasing Madden 16 later this month, and in the meantime they continue their oh so slow reveal of player ratings. Previously EA was releasing top ratings by position. This past week, they started releasing team ratings across divisions. They included a few additional player ratings, but nothing in too much detail.
EA released NFC West ratings last, and the San Francisco 49ers are tied with the St. Louis Rams at the bottom of the division. Both teams got a 78 overall rating, with the Seattle Seahawks getting a 91 overall rating, and the Arizona Cardinals getting an 82 overall rating. Here is what EA had to say about some of the 49ers individual ratings:
The 49ers weathered a storm of change in the offseason, but they retained a few quality players to continue onward. The play of QB Colin Kaepernick (81 OVR) will determine whether or not San Francisco remains a contender in the NFC West. The Niners let veteran Frank Gore go in free agency, but have an impressive replacement in HB Carlos Hyde (77 OVR). New addition Torrey Smith (86 OVR) joins Anquan Boldin (88 OVR) as the WR starters, and TE Vernon Davis (84 OVR) returns.
MLB NaVorro Bowman (93 OVR), SS Antoine Bethea (91 OVR), and ROLB Aldon Smith (89 OVR) are the lynchpins of a defense that lost standouts Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, and Chris Borland to retirement. Youngster Aaron Lynch (79 OVR) will probably get the start over Ahmad Brooks (80 OVR) at LOLB.
As that second paragraph indicates, Aldon Smith is still on the 49ers for now. I tweeted at EA asking if he would be a free agent when the game was released, but did not get an answer. As some suggested on Twitter, he will probably be on the team, but the first roster update after release will remove him.
Prior to the overall team rating release, EA Sports posted the ratings for the top five kickers. Phil Dawson ranked No. 5 in that group with a 91 rating. They gave him a 92 for kick power and an 89 for kick accuracy. The top four kickers were Justin Tucker, Stephen Gostkowski, Dan Bailey and Matt Bryant.