Madden NFL 26 Gameplay Deep Dive

Hello Madden fans! 

Football season is right around the corner. Training Camp is on the horizon and every team starts with the new hope of the season to come. We’re kicking it off with a deep dive into all the new gameplay features and improvements you can expect in Madden NFL 26.

The full Gameplay Deep Dive is available over at the Gridiron Notes on the Madden NFL 26 website. 

It covers a lot of info, so be sure to check it out when you've got the chance. I've included some highlights below: 

Built from Sundays

Gameplay in Madden NFL 26 is all about bringing you closer to the NFL, while providing ultimate control and performance on the sticks. We're powering our playcall AI with years of NFL-coaching data that will make our gameplay smarter and more rewarding. We're expanding and replicating signature styles of NFL players and coaches that you can see and feel. Not only that, our team is continuing to focus on the fundamentals of the sport for more depth and gameplay balance.

No matter how you like to play, there’s something for everybody and it starts with this year’s three core gameplay principles:

1. Signature Identity - Dynamic gameplay experiences that pay off the unique, signature styles of the teams, players and coaches fans know and love, no matter what modes you play. Through Quarterback DNA, Coach DNA and Football Weather, each game will feel like its own rewarding challenge, authentic to the exclusive identities of the NFL.
2. Community Requests - Madden NFL 26 is built for all of our different types of players, and we want you to know that we are listening. Whether it be searching social media, watching players play and stream, or having direct conversations, we value the feedback and are leveraging it to improve the experience by delivering a number of your wishlist items.
3. Foundational Football - A never-ending pursuit of perfection in the fundamentals of the sport - Blocking and tackling, passing and catching - driven by our players’ desire for authentic, balanced gameplay mechanics and strategic depth.
   
   

Signature Identity

Our goal for Madden NFL 26 is to make each Sunday feel different, and each game feel rewarding. Each time you play a game, whether it be vs. the AI, vs. another user, online or offline, you should feel immersed in a rewarding challenge… a strategic chess match… an overall NFL experience where the unique identities of the teams, coaches and players have a meaningful impact on how the game is played and the wins and losses.  This is what makes the NFL so insanely popular and exactly the experience we are aiming to deliver. Madden NFL 26 is delivering this ‘signature’ experience through Quarterback DNA, Coach DNA, and Football Weather.

QB DNA

The NFL Quarterback is the most iconic position in all of sports. As we continue pushing the ball forward with signature styles in Madden, we saw an opportunity to completely re-imagine the performance of the position.  What we mean when we say ‘performance’ includes all of the following: visual quality, signature behaviors, improved AI, and new mechanics. Thus, we are delivering significant enhancements across each component that makes up a QB’s DNA in our game so that they play, look, and feel iconic.

Coach DNA

Another way we’re bringing to life the unique signature identities of the NFL that fans know and love is Coach DNA. This is a set of features that delivers on the real-life tendencies and styles of each NFL head coach. Running the same set of plays against similar CPU schemes to get easy Ws are in the past. To be successful, you’ll now need to gameplan and strategize differently depending on your opponent. 

Data-Driven Coaching is an example of how Madden 26 is truly being built straight from Sundays. We use decades of NFL playcall tendency data to train a predictive machine learning model. This new innovation allows you, the gamer, to ask: What would Andy Reid do? What would Dan Campbell do? The way our model answers those questions makes each game feel like the chess match of the NFL that we all love to watch unfold every week.

This new playcall model will make Coach Suggestions and AI playcalling more dynamic and true to each real-life team by finding the play the head coach (or his staff) would call given the game situation. Things like down, distance, score, clock time, timeouts, personnel, field position, and even the weather conditions are used as filters to sort through all the available plays in the playbook and narrow down to those that best match what each team would most likely call in the given situation. You’ll see AI-controlled teams make these dynamic playcalls when playing against them. The Dan Campbell-coached Lions will aggressively go for it on fourth down more than anybody else; the Nick Sirianni-coached Eagles will use RPOs and Zone reads to play the strengths of Jalen Hurts. For your own playcalling, Coach Suggestions will be powered by the data-driven model, so if you want to compare what you would dial up vs. what the real-world head coach would, you can see that play in the Coach Suggestions tab.

 

 

Football Weather

“THAT’S Football Weather!” is one of the many quotes from the great John Madden himself. He exuded pride in the historic and unique link between extreme weather conditions and NFL football. Madden NFL 26 is delivering a set of features under this name - Football Weather - that combines the visceral nature of the weather look and the significant impact it has on gameplay.

We’re bringing this experience right to your front door with an overhaul to weather visuals and intensity, coinciding with gameplay impacts to increase the realism of having to gameplan for the elements. We’ve made changes to all of our previously supported weather types, and have added heavy snow with fog and heavy rain with fog for Madden 26, all of which will be felt on the field as much as seen. 

When playing in the elements, you will have to adjust your gameplan based on how extreme they are. When playing in heavy fog you’ll be battling visibility in the passing game, just like an NFL QB. Players can slip when making drastic cuts, WRs can lose their footing when releasing off the line, linemen on both sides of the ball can lose their footing during their get-off and more. This is all dependent on a player’s Change of Direction (COD) rating and how much precipitation is in play. The way players run will feel different due to the penalties to their Speed (SPD), Acceleration (ACC) and Change of Direction (COD) ratings, as most athletes are not as explosive or smooth when running in heavy snow or rain. 

It will also be harder to kick and throw, with penalties to power and accuracy. You’ll see more broken tackles, tackles that slide on the wet field, dropped passes and fumbles, all driven by player ratings and their team’s home climate. The gameplay weather system is so detailed that players from cold-weather teams will not be as impacted when playing in the snow. Teams like Buffalo, Chicago, Green Bay, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, that play in the snow frequently, will perform better than teams from warm weather climates. Teams such as Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Jacksonville will experience heavier movement penalties. To simulate the balance of the NFL, cold weather teams also will experience faster rates of fatigue when playing in the heat. Teams used to playing in the heat will fatigue at a slower rate than the traditional cold weather teams.

All of this is driven by improvements to the simulation side of weather. Precipitation is variable, wind has a wider range, and all of this affects the in-game visuals as well as the impact to each player’s performance. All Football Weather is not created equal and each game will present a different challenge to overcome.

Foundational Football + Community Requests

As a transition into our Foundational Football innovation, we wanted to call out a few specific features that came straight from the community wishlist. Why? We want our community to know that when you give us feedback, we listen. Madden is a game made for football fans, by football fans and there are significant changes coming to Madden 26 directly thanks to your input. In this section we’ll break down the most-discussed gameplay elements on social media from Madden NFL 25.

Player Movement

Player movement encompasses both speed and responsiveness. Instead of having two very different sets of locomotion across Madden and College, we will have alignment between both games on a central tuning set that captures the best of both College and Madden. It’s built on giving players ultimate control and responsiveness in change of direction, acceleration and decelerations, while also still maintaining authenticity in top-end speed, which have been finely tuned to match the speeds of today’s real-world top athletes. 

So no matter where you play, a 4.2 is a 4.2. The differentiation between NFL athletes and College athletes will be driven by the differences in how players are rated in Speed (SPD), Acceleration (ACC) and Change of Direction (COD) for each game.

This is in direct response to player feedback that was very clear about expectations, citing the faster movement from College Football 25 felt more fun and responsive. In fact, in social media posts where College and Madden were compared, almost 40% mentioned player movement. To further test this out, we held a special playtest in Madden NFL 25 with our Madden Design Council community leaders who reinforced the community’s sentiment on faster movement speed. This change was overwhelmingly given a stamp of approval by the vast majority of players that tested it out. We are beyond excited to deliver this change to you in Madden NFL 26. 

Depth Chart Positions

In 2025, NFL players are more dynamic than ever. The positional designations of 20+ years ago are often outdated. Madden NFL 26 is modernizing position listings across depth charts. This has been a long-time community wishlist item and also been a longtime desire of NFL players across the league. Updating our depth charts means there’s one NFL position that will finally be represented accurately in our game: The Long Snapper! J.J. Jansen fans, rejoice! We have finally made the long snapper position a primary depth chart position with a long snap rating. That’s just the start.  

Our depth chart positions in Madden 26 will also include new primary positions for Edge (LEDG & REDG) and SAM, MIKE and WILL linebackers, and a secondary position for Nose Tackle (DT archetype as well) and a new Gadget player (Think Taysom Hill or Deebo Samuel).

These depth chart changes have been a long time coming, we’ve been working on this for more than two years. The reason it took time to get this done was all the logic that needed to be overhauled to support new positions. Draft logic, free agency, trades, development, progression, and much more will reflect these new position listings. This deep franchise logic is also why this feature adds depth and strategy to roster management in so many places. The Gadget player unlocks unique formations and plays in playbooks, and allows you to use just about any player you want in that position. Regardless of which player you want to use in special packages, there’s a matching ratings formula to go with it. 

Finding and developing edge players across 4-3 and 3-4 defensive fronts will be more authentic. You won’t have to frequently change positions between DE and OLB when you change your scheme. Mike and Will backers will be used in both schemes with the Sam being used only in the base 4-3 formations. Don’t forget to keep a good long snapper on your roster to avoid some slow or even bad snaps. As you play through your franchise or build your Ultimate Team, the increased positional depth will make for more scheme variety and more interesting decisions about how to fill out your rosters.

That’s still not all.

There’s a very unique player entering the league this year via the NFL Draft who plays both sides of the ball. Jacksonville’s Travis Hunter has forced us to revisit the assumptions the game makes about positions.

We’ve removed certain restrictions on depth charts so that you can have Hunter starting at both WR and CB if you choose (along with any other WR or CB). Get creative with your personnel and use WRs and CBs as you’d like, but be ready for Wear & Tear to make it a lot harder for them to be successful if they’re playing every snap of the game. Hunter will have some benefits exclusive to him though. He’s the first Rookie we’ve ever made custom abilities for (deservingly so), and his unique abilities will make it so the impact from Wear & Tear will be far less than anybody else trying to play both sides of the ball. 

Pass Coverage

There are very few core gameplay features our community cares about more than pass coverage. Coming off of the considerable amount of conversation about zones in Madden NFL 25, the team has made coverage more realistic to what we see in the NFL for Madden NFL 26. These efforts included hiring a Super Bowl-winning former NFL defensive backs coach to our design team.

His expertise in combination with the expectations of our core players resulted in a variety of improvements on the backend of the defense. Two of our main areas of emphasis were Cover 4 and Man coverages.

Cover 4

New 4 Strong Trips & Bunch Logic: For route concepts that send a back out of the backfield to a trips side, we’ve added a new ‘Push’ check to our Quarters and Palms coverages. This dynamic adjustment ‘pushes’ or bumps the coverage over to the Trips side and forces a man match on the receivers as they get into their routes. Rather than relying on spot drops to cover four threats on a side, this check makes defenders more intelligent about which receivers to leverage and less likely to blow the coverage when #4 becomes #1.

Updated ‘China’ call: We’ve revamped the ‘China’ call concept in our quarters, palms and three-match coverages vs. combos where the #1 WR runs a short route (like a drag or smoke), and the #2 WR goes deep (like a streak or fade). We have improved the techniques of the DB’s to allow the CB to quickly leverage the deeper route and the flat defender to handle the short route.

Deep Half

We’ve improved the AI of our deep half defenders so that they reach their landmark quicker and with more urgency as they gain more depth. Players should feel more confident using Cover 2 coverages which aligns closely with the current NFL trend of non-traditional Tampa 2 coverages.

Man Coverage

The first improvement to man coverage is a new defender cut reaction system. Based on the ratings matchup of the players and leverage (discussed below), this system will allow receivers to create separation more authentically and have a better variety in the amount of separation. When a receiver wins on their cut, the defender can lose balance, allowing for a window to make a big play. Lockdown man corners, though, won’t be so charitable in the space they allow. 

Leverage Matters More. The leverage of the defender is going to play a much more significant role in receiver openness than in the past. The base win chance formula is still the Man Coverage (MCV) rating vs. Route Running (SRR, MRR, DRR) rating. The leverage side of the defender, however, will have a significant impact on the outcome at the cut, as well as the amount of separation the receiver can gain. If the defender is aligned with outside leverage at the snap, the receiver will have a much lower chance to win on a cut to the outside, and even when he does, the amount of separation gained will be far less than if he’d cut to the inside. This can mean just a step of separation when winning vs. outside leverage, vs. 2-3 steps of separation when making a cut in the opposite direction.

Leverage will also play a bigger role when matching from a zone coverage. Defenders will be more intentional with their man leverage point based on the rules of the zone coverage they are matching from. If the zone calls to take away the outside, when they match into man, they’ll stay in an outside leverage position, which will make the coverage stickier vs. the concepts it aims to take away.

We know man coverage is a delicate balance. It doesn’t take much to make it either too overpowered or not really viable. We’ve added on a few improvements to how individual defenders will play the ball for better coverage balance. To reduce the frequency of ‘psychic INTs,’ we’ve refined the logic for when an AI-controlled defender can attempt a catch. If he isn’t facing the ball, or hasn’t turned his head to see the ball, he won’t be able to attempt a catch at all and will instead play the receiver for a catch knockout more often. You’ll also see far more variety with new swat animations. There will be far more animation coverage for when defenders try to swat the ball from many different angles.

Going even further, here’s a list of additional improvements coming to pass coverage driven directly from community feedback:

• Increased touch height for swats to give defenders more balanced reactions to high-ball throws and deep RAC catches
• Improved midair interaction logic for defenders so that the interactions look and feel more realistic and situation-specific, especially vs. high-ball throws; for users, it improves the effectiveness of using the ‘Play Receiver’ mechanic.
• Zone drop and Custom Zone flat zone defenders will now sprint instead of back-pedal to their desired depth when set to 20 yards or more, which makes them play with more urgency and allows them to get to their spot faster.
• Cover 3 Sky, Cloud and Hard flat plays now play ‘country cover 3’, which means that the underneath defenders will play zone spot-drop zones regardless of the offensive formation. To give players full control in scheming up vs. 3x1 formations and Bunch, all of the Cover 3 Match and Buzz coverages will play Skinny and Skate respectively, which will allow the defense to match up better to the popular routes (like Flood or Verticals) on the 3-receiver side. The ‘skinny’ check is the match principle in Cover 3 Sky where the backside Hook-Curl defender will be responsible for the vertical route from the #3 receiver on the trips side.

Custom Zones

Last year we introduced custom route stems, which players enjoyed because of the creativity it allowed on offense. This year, the direct defensive counter of Custom Zones are in play. Custom Zones allow you to tell your zone defense exactly where you want them to cover. The control scheme is similar to custom stems - bring up the hot route menu for an individual defender in pre-play, hold down LB/L1 and move your zone coverage up or down. You’ll even see the playart update in real time. When you have dialed it in to your liking, simply release LB/L1 to lock it in. If you have a zone drop activated via Coach Adjustments, the Custom Zone commands will override the Coach Adjustment when in conflict.

Route Commit

In man coverage, leverage is of the utmost importance. The new Route Commit feature will reward you for learning your opponents’ tendencies. Route commit is different from shading in that it’s a high-risk guess with big rewards if you are correct. 

Is your opponent beating you on the corner route? Route Commit one (Y/Triangle to bring up coverage adjustments, then A/X to pick an individual receiver) or all of your defensive backs (RB for Defensive Keys) in man coverage to look for outside-breaking routes to lock it down. Beware that any in-breaking routes will be lost by your defenders and potentially leave them wide open. Don’t want to risk so much? Then just shade your defenders via the traditional shading mechanic, which gives them leverage to defend the routes you think are being run and take on less risk (but also less reward). With route commit and shading, easy-to-read opponents can get shut down with your adjustments at the line of scrimmage if you can pick up on their playcall habits.

Physics-Based Gameplay

A year ago we brought you the introduction of our newest version of physics-based gameplay, Boom Tech. This brought players more control, delivering on your feedback about tackles feeling too predictable or scripted. That vision has not changed in Madden 26 and physics is still a huge part of our future for all the same reasons. 

We’ve expanded our physics-driven animation technology to other tackle types, but before we did, we knew we had some issues to clean up after a year of learning and hearing from players. First, we’ve done work on tackle alignment to significantly reduce instances of tackles triggering without the players making full contact. This also meant fixing issues with ball carriers being impacted by physics without really being hit. We’ve also worked on maintaining momentum after contact by reducing how frequently the system would look to trigger falling animations. Now, we’re avoiding scenarios where the ball carrier would change direction while falling to the turf. 

An additional issue players surfaced was ball carriers getting back to normal locomotion too quickly after contact. This could feel abrupt, or look like the ball carrier wasn’t impacted by the contact. Just like with the momentum tuning, the team adjusted how much the ball carrier will look to branch to locomotion and when he does, the branching will be later.

Once we solidified the foundation of our physics system, we then started expanding it to additional tackle types including Catch Tackles, Stiff Arms and Trucks. All three of these interactions are now driven by physics in addition to the Hit Sticks and Cut Sticks from ‘25.

The timing-based skill mechanics from last year’s hit stick revamp have been expanded to all one-on-one tackle interactions. These include Strip-ball tackles, cut sticks, lunge tackles, wrap tackles, swatting catch tackles and wrap catch tackles. Players will feel more control and more rewarded in determining the outcome of any tackle. If you time a catch tackle perfectly, or even better, a hit stick at the catch point, you can expect a much better chance for a catch knockout.  

Timing mechanics aren’t just for defense. Truck and stiff arm tackles are also now timing-based skill mechanics. Increasing your chance to break a tackle or run over a defender is determined by your stick skill when the ball is in your hands as much as it is when you’re on defense. We’ve also added a new user-driven mechanic called ‘reach-for-sticks.’ When close to the sticks or the goalline, hold the RS up to attempt to reach the ball out of the tackle. If the ball carrier’s arm is free to reach out and the input is received before the tackle is complete, you’ll get a reach. AI-controlled players will reach the ball out based on their awareness (AWR) ratings. This does carry a bit of risk however, so be careful reaching the ball out in a crowd, because if the ball carrier gets hit while reaching for extra yardage, he will have a higher chance of fumbling. 

We’ve added more than 700 new tackle animations for launch, with more planned for Title Updates. Some of the new animations you can expect to see are:

• Wrap Catch tackles for DBs at the catchpoint who aren’t big hitters
• ‘In-Range’ lunges, where the defender is near the ball carrier and doesn’t have to leave his feet
• ‘Unprepped’ hit sticks, which are more explosive hit-stick interactions meant to capture those moments from Sundays when the ball carrier is not quite prepared for the big hit
• A variety of the aforementioned ‘reach for sticks’ mechanic

Wear & Tear

Another addition coming to Madden NFL 26 is Wear & Tear, a system that tracks any contact a player takes over the course of a game, and inside of Franchise and Superstar over the course of a season. Its primary purpose is authentically managing your players’ workloads, which will bring risk to repetitively using the same plays or the same players over and over. It’s a real-life football solution to a video game problem. As discussed by the College Football team, it comes this year with Dynamic Subs that can be done seamlessly during preplay, and a full suite of customization sliders for Franchise players. You’ll read a lot more about the Wear and Tear system in the Franchise & Presentation Deep Dive coming in a few weeks.

Block Steering

Our latest innovation coming to the trenches in Madden NFL 26 is built on the back of our animation-branching technology that also helps power our physics-based gameplay. Block Steering is a new mechanic on the defensive side of the ball that keeps you in control of your player, even when engaged in a one-on-one block. As the name suggests, it gives you the ability to steer the interaction. 

With Block Steering, you’ll find it puts more control in your hands and better reflects the physics and ratings of the players involved in the interactions. The first application is right in the trenches, when you’re controlling a defender and get engaged right off the snap. Instead of flicking the stick to attempt a shed move or disengage, you’ll now have additional control on the LS to steer the blocker into the backfield, or side-to-side, like a bull rush in the pass game, or using the ‘butt-and-press’ technique in the run game. The amount of movement you’ll have of the block depends on the player ratings and the momentum, size, speed and position of the two players when they get engaged. 

The second application is more for the second level of the defense. When running laterally to make a play to the outside, or trying to get downhill to fit a gap on defense, you’ll now keep your direction and momentum when you get engaged in a block. Instead of feeling like you’re getting snatched or held, with no way to control your movement, you’ll still have LS control to move the blocking engagement, and again, the amount of movement is based on the ratings and momentum of the players involved.

Block Steering isn’t just a benefit to user control, however. AI-controlled players will have the ability to fight for control over gaps, resulting in better gap control and more stingy run defense, which will improve execution for both your AI teammates as a user, and your AI opponents.

Leverage System

We're improving how blocking works to make it feel more realistic and help you trust what you see when running the ball. Smarter AI will now look at leverage (who has the better position) to decide which blocking animations happen and who wins those battles.

This new leverage system knows what leverage is desired by a blocker and defender when they get engaged (based on the design of the play and/or any adjustments made to the play), and then based on the ratings match-up and pose of the players, can use all of that to inform the selection of the animation so that you can easily see which player - the blocker or the defender - wins the gap. For example, if the offense wants to run a zone run in the B-Gap vs. a 3-technique defensive tackle, the Guard is attempting to get his head to the playside of the 3-technique so that he can win the B-Gap. But the 3-technique is not supposed to get reached unless he’s playing the inside gap, so he desires to win the B-gap to force the running back into a different lane. Based on the ratings of the guard and D-tackle, and their body positions at the point of engagement, the proper animation will trigger that will put either the blocker or the defender in the gap with the other struggling to try to take it over. Whichever player has head leverage in that gap has a significant advantage in winning the gap. If the blocker wins, the defender will have a harder time shedding into the B-gap, or steering into the B-gap, and the ball carrier will be able to have confidence that his guard will hold the B-gap long enough to burst through it. But if the defender wins the gap, he’s likely to push his blocker into the hole or quickly shed to make a play. 

Given all the blocking and defensive improvements coming this year, understanding leverage is a way to set yourself apart. The leverage battle might fly under the radar, but mastering it will pay dividends. When you utilize it effectively, you’ll put yourself in a position to generate those Saquon-like highlight reel runs.

Pass Block Mechanics

The only people who care more about pass protection than a Quarterback are Madden players, and for that reason, we have a litany of improvements coming to increase the authenticity and control of protecting the QB.

First, we’ve added unique pass protections to each passing play in the playbook data. Each pass block scheme is available in the pre-play adjustment menu. 

Half slide left/right, full slide left/right, empty and base are now applied appropriately to passing plays and are on by default, which you can see by looking at the coach cam play art. Protections are set to fit the original design of the play, so be aware of them when you make hot routes. For example, plays with only five blockers are set to ‘Empty’ protection by default, so if you hot route your RB to block without changing the protection, your tackles will still dual read.

To make it easier to interact with the new pre-set protections, we’ve added some new tools. The first is a new pre-play mechanic called ‘unTarget Defender.’ Similar to the ID the Mike mechanic, this allows you to tell your line to IGNORE a player rather than target him. This is a useful mechanic to bust out against somebody who likes to hover the LB over a Guard or Center and then drop into coverage. If you know the LB is not rushing, direct your line to ignore him and he will be removed from the count.

Next, Protection on the Fly functionality allows you to easily switch the direction of your protection with a flick of the RS. Use the new Untarget mechanic with a RS flick up, without having to bring up the adjustment menu. This new functionality will allow you to be quicker in making blocking adjustments at the line. 

In addition to new tools, we’ve made a visual upgrade to the dropback passing game with all-new pass block locomotion. In the past, we’ve relied on strafe and dropback movements to simulate how pass blockers move, which are unique to offensive linemen. This year, we’ve captured a complete new set of exclusive locomotion that only pass blockers use, which makes our offensive line look more realistic and athletic in their pass sets as they build the pocket around the launch point. 

Dropback protection is only half the battle in today’s NFL. Playaction pass is a big part of the passing game for every team. We’ve also improved the blocking in the play action game. With the new block targeting system we introduced in Madden 25, every core run scheme in the game uses scheme-specific rules to modify targeting to account for as many defensive fronts as possible. This year, we’ve extended that same run block targeting to play action pass, along with new logic and animations, so that the play action will look exactly the same as the run it's trying to simulate. You’ll see the line reach blocking the defense on bootlegs, unblocked backside defenders using the skate technique while deciding whether to play the run or the pass and seamless run block double teams to bait linebackers.

To dive even deeper into the trenches, there are some pass rush updates, too. First, the stamina thresholds that controlled how many moves could be performed per play have been removed. Instead, each move will cost a dynamic amount of stamina based on the defender’s pass rush move ratings. We’ve also changed the functionality of the R2/RT input so that holding down for the acceleration burst gives you speed you want AND different sheds and counters that are more explosive, like faster wins, but carry risk of burning through stamina quicker on passing downs or when using pass commit. Think of this as an ‘Effort’ mechanic, of which the new Gas Guzzler trait has been built around. Lastly, we’ve reduced the amount of pass protection strength relative to the blocker resistance bars that dynamically grow or shrink for pass blockers to allow for more balance in the battle of the trenches. 

Defensive AI Improvements

In Madden NFL 26, we put emphasis on defensive AI in all facets of the game, even on top of what we’ve already discussed with respect to pass coverage. We think our players will always find offense, so we’re starting off the Madden season with a much more aggressive defense.

To improve our run fits, we’ve done a comprehensive analysis of the data driving gap responsibilities for each play and made them more consistent across the board. There will be less guessing where your defenders are going to fit, which you can see in coach cam playart. 

You’ll also see run fit defenders far more aggressive getting downhill. When good defenses fit the run, they are trying to build a wall at the line of scrimmage and beat the blockers to the point of attack. That’s exactly what we’ve done to improve linebacker and safety behavior in the run game, as you will see them aggressively get downhill instead of waiting too long to get blocked. The majority of the gap assignments have been designed to be sound vs. RPOs. A and B-gap defenders will also be more aggressive in playing the run first. The C, D and E-gap coverage defenders will look to play the pass first if their first key runs a route, but will play the run if they read a block. Keep in mind, as mentioned with Realtime Coaching AI, we now use playcalling and adjustments just like a user would to defend repetitive plays!

Superstar Abilities

Superstar abilities (aka Passive Abilities) that impact outcomes will no longer have any built-in guarantees to them, which is another change that players have been requesting. So instead of guaranteed or nearly guaranteed outcomes, you’ll instead see increased chances, close to 50%, when the specific conditions of each ability are met.

Hot-Spot Celebrations

To bring more control and excitement to our celebrations, you’ll now have movement control after scoring a touchdown, where you’ll have a window of time to either sprint or jog with your player and get to one of nine ‘hot spots’ along the boundaries of the end zone. Each Hot Spot will house unique celebrations that trigger based on where the celebrating player is. You’ll see shadow boxing with the goal post, totally legal fake dunk attempts near the crossbar, celebrations that interact with the crowd and even more signature content to name just a few. All in all, there are 20 solo celebrations plus numerous animations across all the Hot Spots. You’ll be able to view the celebrations that are equipped to each button combo in the pause menu ‘Celebrations’ tab. To make the celebrations look as realistic as possible, we created more than 4,000 elements.

Modernized Skills Trainer

If you're a gamer that wants to know more about the mechanics of Madden or hit the lab to refine your stick skills, we’ve completely rebuilt the Skills Trainer experience for Madden 26. Leveraging the power of our Mini Games tool, we’ve made learning the mechanics more fun, seamless and overall a more enjoyable experience. As a bonus, we did a comprehensive audit of every gameplay mechanic in the game, and have a drill for every single one that is available in Madden 26. There are 130 new tutorials in total covering:

• Ballcarrier Mechanics
• QB Mechanics
• Receiver Mechanics
• Option Mechanics
• Offensive Preplay Mechanics
• Tackling Mechanics
• Coverage Mechanics
• Defensive Line Mechanics
• Defensive Preplay Mechanics
• Kicking Mechanics
• Returning Mechanics

Every question or theory you’ve ever had about on-the-field button presses can be answered, and the new user-friendly menu allows you to filter through all of this content to immediately see tutorials for mechanics that are new or changed in Madden 26, so veterans can return to form in record time. 

Finally, just a few more updates we want to share with players:

• We now have the ability to tune gameplay without the need for a client update. This will allow us to be more agile and respond to gameplay feedback faster. Gameplay tuning primarily deals with any type of success chance, reaction time, timing windows, etc. that can be safely modified during the season. 
• The full route tree is available by default in passing hot routes

That was a ton, we know. Can you tell we’re passionate about this? Thank you for making it this far, we can’t wait for you to pick up the sticks soon!   

Madden NFL 26 is a commitment to the soul of football. We simultaneously went back to the basics and innovated authenticity. As you probably noticed, many of the changes we outlined are community-driven. They’re direct reflections of the feedback you’ve given us, so please, keep it coming, because together, we are football. Madden NFL 26 is Built from Sundays, but most of all, it’s built on your feedback, fandom and passion.

These are just some highlights from the full Gameplay Deep Dive. Be sure to go check out the full article when you have the chance! 

MVP Bundle

Pre-order* the MVP Bundle by August 14  and receive:

• Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition
  • Madden NFL 26 3 Day Early Access
  • 4600 MUT points 
  • Bundle Exclusive MUT Item
  • Early Access Solo Challenges 
  • MUT Season 1 Elite Player Item (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items)
  • MUT Cover Athlete Elite Player Item 
  • Franchise Coach Ability Points 
  • Super Star Legendary XP Boost 
  • Player Card Exclusive Item 
• College Football 26 Deluxe Edition 
  • EA Sports College Football 26 3 Day Early Access
  • 4600 CUT points 
  • Bundle Exclusive CUT Item
  • Early Access Solo Challenges 
  • CUT Top Prospect Pack (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items)
  • CUT All Hands Pack (choice of 1 out of 2 items)
  • Dynasty Coach Points 
  • Road to Glory Skill Points 

Deluxe Edition Pre-Order

Pre-order* the EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition by July 24 and receive:

• 3 Day Early Access
• 4600 MUT points 
• Early Access Solo Challenges 
• Limited Time: Season 1 Elite Player Item (choice of 1 player item from select list of player items). Pre Order by July 24th. 
• MUT Cover Athlete Elite Player Item 
• Franchise Coach Ability Points 
• Super Star Legendary XP Boost 
• Player Card Exclusive Item 

Standard Edition Pre-Order

Pre-order* EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 26 today and receive:

• MUT Cover Athlete Elite Player Item
• Franchise Coach Ability Points
• Super Star Legendary XP Boost

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Madden NFL 26 launches worldwide on August 14, 2025. Pre-order the Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition and play early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the EA Forums.

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