The Best Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25 (2024)

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  • What Are The Strongest Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25?

  • How To Make Custom Defensive Playbooks

The Defensive Playbooks within Madden NFL 25 are taken from the strategies of every professional team, but the best ones can shut down even the most dominant offenses. The right coverages and blitz strategies in a defense's playbook can help prevent your opponent from ever gaining points during a game. As a result, you must pick a defensive playbook that works best with your team's strengths.

Similar to the offensive playbooks in Madden 25, the defensive playbooks in the game are organized by teams, meaning that one playbook consists of one organization's gameplan. This naturally creates some limitations, as some playbooks are balanced while others have specific strengths. No playbook is perfect for everyone, especially as you uniquely customize your team to suit your exclusive needs.

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What Are The Strongest Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25?

Pick Gameplans With Strong Formations

The Best Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25 (2)

As your defense goes up against some of the best Wide Receivers and Quarterbacks in Madden 25, you'll want to focus on finding gameplans with good coverage options to protect yourself against passing plays. Giving up two to three yards every play is fine, but giving up 10 or more every time won't keep your opponent from scoring. Defensive plays are harder to plan than offensive ones, so the playbook is perhaps more important.

Some of the best defensive playbooks you can choose from are:

Playbook

Pros

Cons

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Variety of formations with flexible adjustments
  • Great coverage options against passing plays
  • Strong run protection at the line of scrimmage
  • Very little blitz options to pressure an opponent's offense
  • Struggles against the Option
  • Requires some practice to master on the fly adjustments

Cleveland Browns

  • Good balance between deep pass coverage and quarterback pressure
  • Strong blitz plays to enforce fast tackles or sacks
  • Versatile schemes to stop Option plays
  • Somewhat aggressive plays could get exploited
  • Loses sometimes to short passes

Arizona Cardinals

  • Playbook is shared by Falcons and Eagles due to reliability
  • Tight Zone coverage across the entire field for strong pass defense
  • Extremely straightforward for those not used to complex defensive schemes
  • Lack of variety in formation options
  • Very few blitzes for quarterback pressure
  • Weaker overall run defense

Carolina Panthers

  • Man-to-Man coverage options to lock down Wide Receivers
  • Reliable and aggressive blitz plays
  • Loses somewhat against complicated passing plays
  • Being overly aggressive can be risky
  • May give up a big play if you mistake an offense's intent

Multiple D

  • Jack of All Trades
  • Extremely balanced collection of defensive plays
  • Something for every team to match a variety of strengths
  • Lack of versatility or plays that are easy to adjust
  • No specializations can make defense predictable

Some of these defensive playbooks share similarities to College Football 25 schemes you may have used to reach National Championships. Familiar options are always strong since you need less practice to master them.

Some other defenses may be more appealing to you, such as the Tennesee Titans or Las Vegas Raiders for their specializations. Do not be tricked into thinking every defensive gameplan in Madden 25 looks the same, despite how most will use the same type of coverage. Depending on whether you prefer zone coverage or man-to-man, each strategy could be applied to your team in very different ways.

How To Make Custom Defensive Playbooks

Change Out Plays To Match Your Team's Strengths

The Best Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25 (3)

Custom playbooks are made when you go to the "Creation Center" from the game's main menu and pick the "Playbooks" section to get started. As you see all the available defensive playbooks in Madden 25, you should also see an option named "Create Defense" among four main prompts. You can adjust a pre-existing playbook by adding or subtracting plays from it to make a gameplan that suits your team best.

Once you've picked a playbook out of the best ones mentioned, you can make adjustments based on your specific needs. For example, if you have one of the best Safties in Madden 25 in your organization, try to add plays that focus on zone coverage. This will allow that Safety to have a better plan to use their speed and awareness to shut down enemy receivers trying to catch a pass in the backfield.

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Molding a playbook into something perfect for your team can help you greatly, but make sure to practice with unfamiliar formations so you can use them in a game without making a mistake. The best defensive playbooks in Madden NFL 25 are only as good as how you execute them against strong offenses trying to score on you constantly.

The Best Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25 (5)
Madden NFL 25

Sports

Franchise
Madden NFL
Platform(s)
PlayStation 5 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , PC

Released
August 16, 2024

Developer(s)
EA Tiburon
Publisher(s)
EA

Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer , Local Multiplayer , Online Co-Op , Local Co-Op

ESRB
Everyone
The Best Defensive Playbooks In Madden 25 (2024)

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