Your essential Madden 18 guides, including how to get drafted in the Longshot mode, and the best plays to call on both offense and defense.

You might be looking out for the best players that Madden 18 has to offer, but you can't always go by the overall rating of each one. Do you know which stats matter most for the running back position, or for your cornerbacks? With this Madden 18 player stats guide, we'll tell you what stats to look out for at every position.

In case you need help with anything else related to Madden 18, make sure to head over to our Madden 18 tips and tricks guide hub, where we've got full guides on Ultimate Team, offensive playbooks, defensive playbooks, and more.

Madden 18 Player Stats Guide

Firstly, why do the stats of each player matter? Well, particularly in Madden Ultimate Team, you want to have the right personnel for the role. Does your offense revolve heavily around mid throws, deep throws, or simple check downs? Either way, you'll need to know which area the quarterbacks on your team excel in.

Madden 18 QB Stats - THP, TAS, TAM, TAD, Play Action

All the stats that revolve around throw power are essential for the quarterback, as well as the play action statistic. In the order they're listed above, the throw power, throw accuracy short, throw accuracy mid, and throw accuracy deep all dictate whether your QB is best at throwing the ball deep downfield, or is better suited to completing 10/15 yard passes.

Madden 18 HB Stats - Elusiveness, Trucking, Juking, Run Vision, Awareness

Each stat listed above is crucial to the running back position, and basically dictates what situations your HB will excel in. Is their trucking better than their juking or elusiveness? This tells you that they're better for running through defenders than around them, and are great when you need a gain of just a few yards.

Your wide receivers might have to go up and get the ball against stiff competition.

Madden 18 WR Stats - Release, Route Running, Catch in Traffic, Spec Catch, Awareness

A good release stat is essential for any wide receiver that stands a hope of gaining some separation between them and a defender, while the route running stat dictates how good they are at performing special moves such as cuts when running their assigned routes.

Madden 18 TE Stats - Catch in Traffic, Speed, Awareness

Catch in traffic is a key stat for your tight end, as they'll usually be running rights in the midst of plenty of defenders. Awareness helps with both catching the ball and knowing which defenders to block in run plays, so this is pretty essential too.

Madden 18 OL Stats - Impact Blocking, Awareness, Strength

The impact blocking and strength statistic will tell you how effectively your lineman can block for, and also for how long they can hold the opposing player off. The awareness stat helps them to see any incoming defenders that are currently unblocked, and attempt to block them before they reach your QB.

Madden 18 3-4 DE Stats - Strength, Block Shedding, Play Recognition

While awareness dictates how smart an offensive player is, play recognition is the same on the defensive side of the ball. The strength and block shedding stats indicate how effectively your DE can go through an opposing OL player.

Madden 18 4-3 DE Stats - Block Shedding, Acceleration, Speed, Play Recognition, Finesse Moves

Defensive ends effectively have more to do in the 4-3 scheme, hence the need for more important stats. Acceleration and speed only help towards blitzing, while finesse moves can allow them to get around an offensive line player with ease.

It's up to your defensive line to stop your opponent's run game.

Madden 18 DT Stats - Strength, Block Shedding, Play Recognition

Defensive tackles have one job and one job only: get through the offensive line and sack the QB, hence your need to focus on their strength and block shedding stats over all else.

Madden 18 ROLB/LOLB Stats - Zone Coverage, Block Shedding, Play Recognition

Both the outside linebacker positions can be called upon to either blitz, hence the block shedding stat, or cover in the secondary, hence the importance of the zone coverage statistic.

Madden 18 MLB Stats - Tackling, Block Shedding, Zone Coverage, Speed, Play Recognition

The middle linebacker on your defense effectively needs to patrol the middle of the field, either blitzing when assigned to, or covering any open receivers. Both the tackling and zone coverage stat can help in either of these situations.

Madden 18 Man CB Stats - Man Coverage, Press, Speed, Height, Play Recognition

If your cornerback is one more orientated towards man coverage, then you're going to need high man coverage, press, speed, and height stats, so that they can keep up and stand shoulder to shoulder with whoever they're covering.

Madden 18 Zone CB Stats - Zone Coverage, Play Recognition

As they're in charge of an entire area instead of just one person, the zone coverage cornerbacks need to have high play recognition stats, in order to be aware of everything that's going on around them.

It'll be up to your secondary to shut down great players like Tom Brady.

Madden 18 FS Stats - Speed, Zone Coverage, Play Recognition

Your free safety will likely be called upon to cover a zone rather than a single player, hence the need for a high speed and zone coverage rating.

Madden 18 SS Stats - Block Shedding, Tackling, Zone Coverage, Play Recognition

Your strong safety will typically have more to do than the free safety, and so they'll need good block shedding and tackling stats if they're blitzing, and good zone coverage stats if they're back in coverage.

We have a wealth of other guides here at USgamer on Madden 18, including the best offensive playbooks in the game, as well as complete Longshot story mode guide.

This is our complete guide to the most important statistics for every position on the field. Hopefully we've given you an idea of what to look out for when you're assembling your Madden Ultimate Team, particularly when you're scouting out the auction house for new additions to your lineup.

The next iteration of Madden NFL is on the horizon in late 2018, and for everything you need to know about the upcoming game, make sure to head over to our Madden 19 everything we know guide. Alternatively, you can check out our Madden 19 Ultimate Team guide, where we list all of the changes that EA are making to the popular mode for the next year.