Madden Nfl 27 Predicts The 2026 Season: Nfl Mvp, Super Bowl Winner And More

For a football-starved audience, early August cannot come soon enough. Between the NFL, college and fantasy football, there's no shortage of reasons to be excited about what is undeniably America's favorite sport. For gamers, the excitement is two-fold as August's arrival also brings the latest Madden release — and with it the annual Yahoo Sports simulation.

If you're new to the series, we simulate an entire NFL season in "Madden" — Madden NFL 27 in this case — and break down the winners, losers, surprises and disappointments from the virtual year that was. The ground rules for the simulation remain the same: one random team is selected (Chargers) and we start at the regular season using "simple" settings in Franchise Mode. 

Some years, the simulation is surprisingly accurate. Other years — like last year — it's jarringly off, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

With all of that said, let's see how Madden predicts the 2026 season.

Super Bowl

Historically in the Yahoo Sports simulation, Madden has predicted success individually for Dak Prescott and for the Cowboys as a whole. Despite the virtual versions of Prescott and Jerry Jones filling their trophy cases, none of these have come to fruition as the Super Bowl drought has reached 31 years.

Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!

BUT, what if this season is actually the year for the Cowboys? Madden certainly thinks it will be.

Although the Cowboys didn't win the NFC East in the simulation, they went on a run in January and February, beating the Eagles, Packers and Bucs — all division winners — en route to the Super Bowl. 

In Super Bowl LXI, Dallas' rushing attack overwhelmed Denver, with Prescott, Javonte Williams and Jaydon Blue combining for 180 yards and four touchdowns in a dominant 31-14 win.

In previous simulations, Madden has generally played it safe with Super Bowl teams and winners, but with Dallas currently sitting at 35-1 or 30-1 odds, depending on the sportsbook, we'll file this as a long shot.

Biggest disappointment

While we're on the topic of the Super Bowl, last season's champion Seahawks and runner-up Patriots finished with identical 9-8 records and missed the postseason entirely in the Madden simulation this year. Both teams play in a division where they aren't favored to win, with the Bills and Rams in the AFC East and NFC West, respectively. The most direct path is an uphill battle, but for both teams to completely miss out of the playoffs would have to be categorized as a disappointment.

MVP

Unsurprisingly, Madden is picking a quarterback to win the award. Coming off an ankle injury, Bo Nix not only leads the Broncos into the Super Bowl, but also captures the NFL's top individual award in his third season in the league. In the simulation, Nix led the league with 5,074 yards (he was the only QB to surpass the 5,000-yard mark) and 41 touchdowns against eight interceptions. 

Nix has been a very good quarterback in his first two seasons, but his Madden simulation stat line represents a massive jump in production. At 35-1, there are 16 quarterbacks listed ahead of Nix in the preseason MVP odds, including two in his own division in Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes.

Rookie(s) of the Year

Although he's not slated to be the Raiders' Week 1 starter, No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza was Offensive Rookie of the Year in the simulation. It's worth pointing out that Mendoza's overall rating (74) is one point higher than veteran QB Kirk Cousins, which explains why he got the nod for a full season in Las Vegas. Mendoza finished with 3,852 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions, leading the Raiders to a 9-8 record and an AFC wild-card berth.

Team record aside, Mendoza (+475) winning OROY is one of the more feasible outcomes from the simulation as he sits just behind Cardinals rookie RB Jeremiyah Love (+425)  in the consensus odds for the award. 

On the defensive side, Cowboys pass rusher Malachi Lawrence took home the award, leading the eventual Super Bowl champions with 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss. Lawrence (25-1) is 10th in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds, making him a bigger long shot compared to Mendoza.

Other award winners:

Defensive Player of the Year — T.J. Watt. He is almost always a safe bet to take home this award in both Madden and real life. In the simulation, Watt racked up a career-high 107 tackles and 19 sacks, his highest total since 2023. Watt is 18-1 to win the award, significantly behind the preseason favorite, Myles Garrett

Offensive Player of the Year — Ja'Marr Chase. The AFC North lays claim to both DPOY and OPOY as Chase took home the hardware in Madden. Although Chase didn't lead in any receiving categories, his 93 catches, 1,836 yards and 15 touchdowns were enough to earn him the award. Chase (+1000) currently sits third in odds behind a pair of newly paid running backs in Jahmyr Gibbs (+650) and Bijan Robinson (+900).

Coach of the Year — Todd Bowles. He led the Bucs to an NFL-best 14-3 record and the NFC title game, so it's no surprise Madden picked him as the winner. Bowles (+5000) is a long shot to win this award, significantly trailing the favorite, John Harbaugh (+750).

Biggest surprise 

Although the Cowboys and Raiders' seasons were surprising, the Bucs having the best team in the NFL stood out in the simulation as the biggest shocker. In Frank Schwab's preseason NFL power rankings, Tampa Bay sits at 22, with some major questions surrounding the consistency of QB Baker Mayfield, an offense that lost a future Hall of Famer in Mike Evans and uncertainty about DT Vita Vea, who has requested a trade amid a contract standoff. The NFC South is one of the league's weakest divisions and the Bucs (+175) are actually the favorites, but winning the division and being the NFL's top team are two entirely different things.

Other division winners

AFC East – Bills, 12-5

AFC North – Bengals, 10-7

AFC South – Texans, 9-8

AFC West – Broncos, 12-5

NFC East – Eagles, 11-6

NFC North – Packers, 11-6

NFC West – 49ers, 14-3

Of these, the Bills, Texans and Eagles are the preseason favorites to win their divisions. The Bengals and Packers are second in the AFC and NFC North, respectively, and the Broncos and 49ers have the third best odds in the AFC and NFC West.

Worst team

In my simulation last year, the Jets finished 2-15, which was only slightly worse than the team actually was (3-14). This year isn't much better. Madden projects the Jets to finish 2-15 again, with the NFL's worst offense and ending the season on a 10-game losing streak that ultimately costs Aaron Glenn his job as the head coach. Depending on which sportsbook you look at, the Jets are either second-to-last (200-1) or tied for last (250-1) with the Dolphins and Cardinals in terms of Super Bowl odds.

On the plus side, next year is expected to be a great quarterback draft class.