Sorry Madden fans. You'll have to at least wait until Madden NFL 17 to play as Cardale Jones.
The Ohio State 3rd string quarterback, that led the Buckeyes to to a College Football Playoff National Championship 42-20 win over the Oregon Ducks, announced today that he will be returning to Ohio State for the 2015-16 season. In declining entry into the NFL Draft, the redshirt sophomore quarterback will have a chance to build his draft stock if he performs well over the course of a whole collegiate football season.
Jones was promoted to starter after season-ending injuries to Braxton Miller and backup J.T. Barrett. Jones had three starts — a Big Ten title, Sugar Bowl title, and National Championship, in which he threw for 2442 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score.
Cardale Jones is a 6'5" 250-pound monster on the field that's athletic and has a strong arm. In Madden, that's the combination everyone looks for. If he declared for the draft, he probably would have been the third or fourth-ranked quarterback, after Oregon's Marcus Mariota, Florida State's Jameis Winston, and UCLA's Brett Hundley. After a three-game resume, it could be argued that he has more upside than any of them, but there's also the risk that he'd be more of a Jamarcus Russell in the NFL.
Based on Madden 15 rookie quarterback ratings, Jones would have been rated somewhere in the mid-70s to high-60s. Last year, Bortles was the top-rated rookie QB at 78, and he went number three overall.
So it looks like we will have to wait another year to get an official (non-player created) Cardale Jones in Madden. And then everyone can cheese online with him.
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