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Now that Madden NFL 17 is officially released, lets run through everything you need to know about this years version of the video game, including the top rookies, the fastest players, the best teams and more.PLAYERSThe 99 ClubRob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots Luke Kuechly, LB, Panthers Von Miller, OLB, Broncos J.J. Watt, DE, TexansBiggest takeaway:?No player on this list helped his Madden stock in a shorter time period than Miller. He disrupted just 1.9 percent of opposing quarterbacks dropbacks in the regular season, the second-lowest rate of his career. But the playoffs were a different story (4.7 percent), catapulting Miller into Maddens 99 club.Biggest surprise:?Steelers WR?Antonio Brown?has been the single most unstoppable offensive player of the past two seasons -- 132.5 catches, 1,766 receiving yards and 11.5 TDs on average. And yet, Brown landed a 97 Madden rating for the second consecutive year.Best rookies1. Jalen Ramsey, CB, Jaguars (82) 2. Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Cowboys (80) T-3. Robert Aguayo, K, Buccaneers (79) T-3. Joey Bosa, DE, Chargers (79) T-3. Ronnie Stanley, LT, Ravens (79)Biggest takeaway: Elliott will get more opportunities than any rookie to exceed his rating, which is tied for 31st among all RBs. Running behind the NFLs best offensive line, Elliott has a real chance to finish in the top five in rushing.?Biggest surprise: Texans speedy WR?Will Fuller?is getting rave reviews in training camp, but he didnt even crack the top-10 rookies. Houstons lack of a clear-cut No. 2 receiver could play in Fullers favor as a rookie. ?Best awareness ratingT-1. Tom Brady, QB, Patriots (99) T-1. Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers (99) T-3. Drew Brees, QB, Saints (98) T-3. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Cardinals (98) T-3. Luke Kuechly, LB, Panthers (98)Biggest takeaway: Just two defenders (Kuechly and Derrick Johnson) had an awareness rating of 95 or higher, compared to 12 offensive players. Kuechly fits right in among this crew: He makes a habit of jumping routes and shooting gaps based on pre-snap reads.?Biggest surprise: Aaron Rodgers?91 awareness rating sounds high, but Brady, Brees, Carson Palmer (94) and Philip Rivers (94) ranked ahead of him among quarterbacks. Watch this video and tell me Rodgers doesnt deserve to be in that group.?Best speed ratingT-1. Brandin Cooks, WR, Saints (96) T-1. Phillip Dorsett, WR, Colts (96) T-1. Jakeem Grant, WR, Dolphins (96) T-1. Corey Grant, RB, Jaguars (96) T-1. J.J. Nelson, WR, Cardinals (96)Biggest takeaway: Pure speed doesnt always translate to on-field success. The average overall Madden rating of the five players above is 69.4, with Cooks (82) being the most established. The Saints WR had 1,138 yards and 9 TDs last season.Biggest surprise: Panthers WR?Ted Ginn Jr.?ran past just about every secondary he played against last season, but mustered only a 92 speed rating in Madden NFL 17. That sound you hear is Ginn challenging the 31 receivers rated faster than him to a foot race.Best agility ratingT-1. Tavon Austin, WR, Rams (98) T-1. Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers (98) T-1. LeSean McCoy, RB, Bills (98)Biggest takeaway:?McCoy was banged up last season, but when healthy, Shady is still as shifty as ever. Just check out how easily he shakes Bengals CB Dre Kirkpatrick on this play.Biggest surprise: Jerick McKinnon and Denard Robinson?(96) both had a better agility rating than Steelers RB?LeVeon Bell (95). Lets poll defenders and see who they think is more terrifying in the open field.Best strength ratingT-1. Stephen Paea, DE, Redskins (98) T-1. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Dolphins (98) T-3. Russell Bodine, C, Bengals (97) T-3. Mike Iupati, G, Cardinals (97) T-3. Dontari Poe, DT, Chiefs (97) T-3. Jared Veldheer, T, Cardinals (97) T-3. J.J. Watt, DE, Texans (97)Biggest takeaway:?Suh makes $3 million more annually?and?has a better strength rating?than Watt??How does J.J. sleep at night? (Answer: With his three Defensive Player of the Year awards snuggled close.) In all seriousness, how much would you pay to watch these two have a bench-pressing contest? Count me in for $20.Biggest surprise: Aaron Donald?--?who?put up 35 reps on the bench press at the 2014 NFL combine and beasts through double-teams with regularity -- could muster only a 94 strength rating. Thats tied for 18th overall. Something aint right.TEAMSBest offenses1. Pittsburgh Steelers (93) T-2. Carolina Panthers (91) T-2. Arizona Cardinals (91)Biggest takeaway: Most NFL pundits would agree that the Steelers have the widest array of offensive weapons -- when at full strength. The problem? The lethal combination of QB Ben Roethlisberger, WR Antonio Brown, RB LeVeon Bell and WR Martavis Bryant has played just 13 percent of the Steelers offensive snaps together the past two seasons. That number will be at 0 percent in 2016 with Bryant slated to miss the entire season because of another suspension.Biggest surprise:?The Oakland Raiders -- the same team that ranked 23rd in points per games from Weeks 10-17 (18.3) -- are tied for fourth in Maddens offense ratings.?Best defenses1. Kansas City Chiefs (93) T-2. Denver Broncos (91) T-2. New England Patriots (91)Biggest takeaway: The Chiefs defense finished No. 2 in Football Outsiders DVOA metric?last season -- and that was with OLB Justin Houston (97 overall rating) missing all or most of the final six games. So Kansas City showed enough to be one of the top-three defenses, but ...Biggest surprise:?How didnt the Broncos finish with the best rating?!? When you hold Tom Brady and Cam Newton to a collective Total QBR of 18.9 in the two biggest games of the season, you should probably be the No. 1 defense the next season. Just sayin.?Best overall teamsT-1. Carolina Panthers (87) T-1. New England Patriots (87) T-3. Green Bay Packers (85) T-3. Kansas City Chiefs (85) T-3. Pittsburgh Steelers (85) T-3. Seattle Seahawks (85)Biggest takeaway:?Regression, what regression? Madden has high hopes for the Panthers after they went 15-1 in the 2015 regular season. If Carolina ends up getting the NFCs No. 1 seed again, you have to think QB Cam Newtons overall rating (94) will be on the rise in Madden NFL 18.Biggest surprise: The Dallas Cowboys -- who are banking on brittle QB Tony Romo staying healthy for 16 games -- have the same rating as the Arizona Cardinals (84). Yes, the same Cardinals who went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. 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At least, thats what Echo Fox owner Rick Fox thinks.Described as the Hunger Games of video games, H1Z1 is a computer title that parachute drops 150 players onto a map, and the rest is up to the competitors. Get weapons, hide, or go on the offensive as the battle royale wages on until one player is left standing as the ultimate survivor.Fox, a multitime NBA champion, has already made his mark in the world of esports with his involvement in leading titles like League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but he doesnt want to simply follow the trend: he wants to be the one creating them. He wants to be at the forefront of it all.Were really excited about our relationship with H1Z1, said Fox. As of now, were in the midst of the [League Championship Series] summer split, but we got a chance last week to go down to [H1Z1 developer] Daybreak and really drill deeper into whats coming down the line in coming months with our partnership. Im probably most excited -- besides the fact I love to play and compete at it on a weekly basis -- what it will evolve into.As a game still in the beta stage, the future of H1Z1 as an esport is still completely up in the air. While it has its fair share of popular streamers and viewers, simply being a fun game to watch on Twitch with a few colorful personalities does not make it a surefire esport. Hearthstone, which is one of the most-watched games on Twitch, isnt necessarily one of the bigger esports going today. There are people who stream Hearthstone that possess a large fan base, but that viewership doesnt translate to a tournament setting. While people might be entertained by a certain streamer battling it out in the one-versus-all aspect of H1Z1, there needs to be an interest in a wide array of teams and players to result in a healthy competitive scene.It has to be interesting to watch, answered Fox when questioned what makes a competitive video game interesting to the casual mainstream audience. That in itself is what you have here with H1Z1.Thats the beauty and upside of the Daybreak title as a possible esport in the future. For how popular the likes of League of Legends and Dota 2 are, theyre difficult to understand if youre someone not familiar with video games. Even then, you might not even understand all the spells, different classes of characters, and the colorful, rotating objectives if you dont sit down and get a crash course on whats going on. H1Z1, on the other hand, doesnt share that trait.A ton of people get dropped onto a map in a realistic setting.The objective is to survive until the end.If you die, your game is over.The last person standing is the winner.Its the type of survival fantasy weve seen portrayed countless times in television, movies and books. With the success of similar media like Hunger Games, the promotion of the game itself from a broadcasting standpoint wouldnt be difficult. When you force a bunch of people to fight to the bitter end, people will tune in to find out who wins. Its been that way since the age of the Roman gladiators.Im obsessed with the idea of the competition of a group of teams competing all at one time, said Fox. Something I havent seen anywhere out there in the landscape that I want to see come to life. Theres so many different ways they can go with their esport eexpression.dddddddddddd. I keep pitching it every time Im in front of Daybreak. I just know as a consumer of competition, this is at its purest form. As a consumer of that and the entertainment value around it, I know there is a home run, a touchdown, a slam dunk. You name whatever sport analogy you want. If you had such a league that set up the opportunity for these teams to draft off the leaderboard like Twin Galaxies and have them all compete every week, its just epic.After getting involved with League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at the start of his esports journey, Rick Foxs next move isnt in line with everyone else. Youd expect a Dota 2 team from him, or maybe even an Overwatch team (to capitalize on the huge groundswell of attention the game is garnering after its recent release). Instead, the move into H1Z1, while not limiting Fox in branching out to those games, is something where he, as a businessman and leader, can be the one to set the mark.Before League of Legends became the worlds biggest esport, you had the likes of Andy Reginald Dinh creating teams on message boards and forming grassroots brands from garages. Not a decade later, Dinh is the founder and owner of one of the biggest esports teams in the world and has become a self-made millionaire by being one of the first people in the space to build a team and brand correctly.Fox, already established from his days in the NBA and on television, doesnt need to take risks, but he wants to. As a famous owner, some thought hed be hands off and leave a lot of the personal work to people he hired under him. Through the first six months as an owner, all signs have pointed to the complete opposite, as his players praise Fox for being somewhat of a father figure and always talking to them before games, after games, and in-between when theyre working toward their next endeavor.Echo Fox doesnt want to just make money off esports. It wants to be the ones creating careers and revolutionizing the growing business of it. In H1Z1, Fox & Co. have found a game where they feel, if the correct choices are made and the right teams invest into it, can become a competitive title that breaks the barrier between casual and hard-core fan of video games. At the end of the day, traditional sports and esports both try to deliver entertainment, so why cant they coincide next to each other?Just because you call yourself an esport doesnt necessarily make you an esport, said Fox.And that will be the challenge he and the rest of Echo Fox have in the coming weeks as they announce their first players and the fledgling scene of H1Z1 starts to take shape. After all, it wasnt too long ago that League of Legends was said to be too colorful, too chaotic and too hard to follow. Five years later, its a flag-bearer for competitive games entering the mainstream.H1Z1 isnt the first and wont be the last video game that hopes to become the next big esport. Rocket League, Heroes of the Storm and even traditional sport titles like Madden and NBA 2k are trying to break into the upper-echelon of watched games. And just like the game itself, Rick Fox will be dropped into a battlefield, and he hopes with his know-how, expertise and eye for a good investment, hell be the sole survivor. ' ' '