[Upbeat music]
- [Adam Lefkoe:] Let's put the ball in your hands
and improve that Madden rating, Fred.
- All right.
[Grunting]
- See, those were pretty moves, Fred!
- Lil' L.T. for the hometown.
[Dynamic hip-hop music]
- What's up, everybody?
I'm Adam Lefkoe, and welcome to another episode
of "Underrated."
Big shout-out to the great people at State Farm,
whose rates are surprisingly great.
Almost as surprisingly great as this segue.
Our guest today is Fred Warner.
Now, listen, you might not know Fred Warner,
but that's because he's the definition
of our show, "Underrated,"
and we're here to bump up those Madden ratings.
Let's get the Madden Ratings Adjuster on the line, Jake.
- [Jake:] Calling Madden Ratings Adjuster.
- Hey, Adam! What's up today?
- Got a good one. Fred Warner.
His numbers are great on Madden.
I was actually very impressed,
but I wanna make 'em spectacular.
- OK.
- All right, Jake.
I need you to dial up that linebacker in San Francisco.
We need to call Fred Warner.
Hit the numbers.
- [Jake:] Calling Fred Warner.
- [Lefkoe:] Look at him! You see him.
Nobody knew the name,
and then the team went to the Super Bowl,
and they all wanted the jersey.
Fred Warner, brother, how you feelin'?
- Feelin' good, man. Happy to be out here.
Try and see if I can boost my stats a little bit.
- Listen, that's what we're doing!
This is Clint. He's a Madden Ratings Adjuster.
He's gonna give you the opportunity
to possibly raise your initial ratings.
- Hey, man, I appreciate it.
- Now, listen.
It is a fact that you intercepted Pat Mahomes.
So, Clint, I think we should target catch ratings.
- [Clint:] So, what we'd be looking for
are difficult types of catches,
ones where he really has to reach
or make very athletic plays
to make a play on the ball,
being an underneath zone defender,
underneath man defender.
- All right.
- [Lefkoe:] OK. Clint?
What about juke and spin moves?
Little offense for this defense guy.
- Yeah.
You know, we're basically gonna treat him
like a ball-carrier.
What we're gonna wanna see is,
would his move actually have an impact on defenders?
He'll be able to get some fakeouts,
get some yards after contact.
Just wanna see his footwork.
- All right. Yo, I'm down, I'm down. I'm ready.
- There's a lot at stake here. [Fred laughing]
- All right, man.
- I'm gonna get you the footage. Thank you, Clint.
- All right, thanks.
- [Lefkoe:] All right.
Before we get started, Fred, can I show you some footage
of you trying to catch balls in Madden?
- All right, let's see it.
Oh, boy!
In a standstill.
OK. That's all I needed.
Yeah, see?
Those two right there, that's all I needed to see.
- [Lefkoe:] What does it feel like to drop it like that?
- I honestly couldn't tell you.
I have no idea what that feels like right there.
- [Lefkoe:] And that is what we're gonna show EA today, OK?
So here's what we're gonna do.
You're gonna line up on defense opposite the quarterback.
He's gonna hike the ball, motion either left or right,
then he's gonna fire it,
and you've gotta make that pick, Fred.
I'm only gonna give you five attempts
with our main man quarterback, Josh Johnson,
back there winging it.
- Right here?
- [Lefkoe:] So get into position, five roll-outs.
- All right.
- Good luck, man!
- All right, man. Appreciate it.
All right, I'm on him.
[Dynamic hip-hop music]
- [Lefkoe:] Ooh, that is a strong start, Fred Warner!
Ooh! Working up a sweat!
- [Laughing] Yeah.
Hey, we workin' out here!
- I just don't know how your change of direction is so low.
- [Laughing] We gotta get that up to at least 95. Come on.
- That's what I'm sayin'.
- [Josh Johnson:] Here we go.
- Ah!
- [Lefkoe:] What was that "Ah" for? You nailed it!
- That could have been cleaner.
- OK, OK.
- Oh, yeah!
- [Lefkoe:] Ah, man! What happened there?
- [Fred:] Hey, he threw that on a line.
- All right, Fred.
[Singing:] To the house!
See, Fred, I'm looking at
how you were running there at the end.
- Yeah.
- [Lefkoe:] That's what I want from you more than anything.
It's not just the pick, it's the six.
- Right.
- [Lefkoe:] So that's why I think
we need to zero in on your spin and juke moves next.
- Come on. Come on, Adam. I need it.
- I need you to see
this Madden footage, cuz it's not good.
We've gotta get those spin and juke move ratings up.
- Lemme see it, man.
Oh, no, that's not it.
Ugh!
You're not juking it.
Oh, no, he not juking anybody with that.
I'mma get hit sticks.
Yeah, that's not the one.
Come on, Adam. We gotta boost that up, man.
You know that.
- So I talked to EA,
and to improve your spin or juke move,
there's a few things that we gotta focus on.
- All right.
- [Lefkoe:] I'm gonna send you through an obstacle course
full of tackling dummies.
And as you get through it,
you're gonna need to show off your best moves.
As you approach each dummy,
it is your choice whether you're gonna spin or juke.
- [Fred:] OK.
- [Lefkoe:] They're gonna be looking for footwork,
misdirection and acceleration out of each move.
And you gotta give 'em that nod.
- [Laughing] Yeah.
All right, head movement, I see.
OK, get the head movement in there.
- [Lefkoe:] OK.
Let's put the ball in your hands
and improve that Madden rating, Fred.
- Let's do it.
[Dynamic hip-hop music]
I think that's a touchdown if I know one.
- [Lefkoe:] All right. Let's put another one on tape, Fred.
- All right.
[Grunting]
- [Lefkoe:] See, those were pretty moves, Fred!
- Lil' L.T. for the hometown.
- And that spin.
Man, it looked just like the way you rushed the passer.
Surprisingly great!
- That's how you know that it's a crisp one.
[Grunting]
Ooh! [Laughing]
- My favorite part about all this
has been your touchdown celebration.
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing,
but my celebrations-
I only had one touchdown last year,
and I was dead tired, so I couldn't celebrate.
Well, my man, you looked good today,
and before I send this tape to Madden,
are you feeling confident about your performance out here?
Is there anything you're nervous about them seeing?
- I mean, the one pass, yeah, maybe.
But, uh,
at the end of the day,
I thought I got enough good stuff on tape today,
you know, to boost my stats.
- [Lefkoe:] Well, the guys over at EA,
they are sticklers about these ratings.
So if I have to get you on a call with them
to further make the case, are you OK with that?
- All right. I'm down with that.
- I'm here for you, Fred.
- I appreciate you, Adam. It's all love.
- Fred Warner, the man, the legend.
- Come on.
[Upbeat music]
- [Lefkoe:] I tried to tell you, Clint.
He's a baller, he's a shot-caller,
he does whatever he wants.
Tell me how great he is. I just need to hear it.
- Hey, he looked very athletic in that film.
I don't know if you coached him up or what,
but he was impressive.
- OK.
I don't want you to make your decisions yet,
because it's time to get Fred Warner on the call.
You're gonna have to say this to his face.
And there he is.
Tucked away, looking super.
How you feelin', Fred? How you livin'?
- Hey, man, I'm doing well, doing well.
Glad I could be here.
- It's time for the reason we're here.
Clint, I'd like to now have you break down
what you saw in the submission
and where we will be with the ratings.
- All right. So let's start with catch.
He's gonna go up one point in catch.
He was a 71, which put him at seventh-best
at the middle linebacker position.
He's now tied for sixth-best, at a 72 catch rating.
- OK, OK. Improvement.
- Now, what's really gonna make you happy
is your athleticism on the special moves,
the spin and the juke.
His juke's going up seven points, from 52 to 59.
He's now the 23rd-best.
Fred, you're actually gonna go up 12 points
in the spin rating.
- Ooh! OK, OK, 12.
- [Clint:] Going up from a 41 to a 53.
- [Lefkoe:] Man!
- [Fred:] Hey, now we're talking. Now we're talking. OK.
- And with all of that said, is Fred Warner underrated?
- Fred Warner is a little bit underrated,
and we are gonna make some adjustments.
- Hey, that's not bad at all.
You know, we still wanna keep climbing, though.
That's just a start for sure.
- But when you put on Madden,
and you look through your ratings,
and you see them from where they were to where they are,
how sweet does that feel?
- Ooh, it feels the best.
You know, you guys would be surprised
how much Madden really means to the players, man.
It's a big deal.
- Yes! And just like that, we did it.
Thank you, Clint. Thank you, Fred.
Thank you guys for watching "Underrated,"
and remember,
you are only underrated if people don't know
how surprisingly great you are.
That was a State Farm plug.
They pay for this. They deserve it.
[Upbeat music]
[Whistle blowing]