Madden 25 best playbooks – great offensive and defensive calls

✓ At A Glance

• The best offensive playbook comes from the Cincinnati Bengals
• The best defensive playbook is the Cleveland Browns’ set

Your success in Madden 25 depends on a lot of things, but one of them is whether or not you’re using the best playbooks available. The players and their overall ratings matter, as does your own gameplay control. But the playbooks are the foundational piece. They might go overlooked but have a tremendous effect on how well things turn out.

Best offensive playbook

The best offensive playbook is the Cincinnati Bengals. Their offense isn’t just led by Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, it has an excellent set of plays to choose from as well. The formations are simple: only Singleback and Shotgun. This can remove some creativity, but there are so many variations and plays from within those sets that this book will absolutely have the play you’re looking for every time. If you’re a player who likes passing and catching, this is the best playbook.

The Kansas City Chiefs offensive playbook is another really solid one. Madden doesn’t always capture what the NFL is actually like, but they’ve done a good job of adding creativity and variety to the Chiefs’ playbook. Generally, a good offense in the real world will have a good playbook.

Other good ones to consider include:

• San Francisco 49ers
• Baltimore Ravens
• Detroit Lions
• Carolina Panthers

Best defensive playbook

The best defensive playbook for Madden players is the Cleveland Browns. Their defense is lights out, and part of the reason is the formations, sets, and plays (not just the star players) they have available. Their Nickel and Dollar formations are excellent, with plays like Cover 3 Sky and Mid Blitz 0. Blitzing is very popular in this game and other football simulators, and the Browns will set you up for success in that area.

The Kansas City Chiefs (unsurprisingly since they have a great coaching staff and are in the midst of a dynasty) have a really good defensive playbook as well. Their Dime 3-2 and Big Nickel Over G formations are among the best counters to a passing play in the game. That’s not all, though, as the 4-3 Even 6-1 formation is a fantastic run formation.

Other good playbooks to consider:

• San Francisco 49ers
• Baltimore Ravens
• New England Patriots
• Houston Texans

However, if you find all of them unsatisfactory, EA Sports allows players to create their own playbooks. You might be able to create an unstoppable defense or powerful offense. You can do this all on your own without any pre-existing sets to choose from.