Alright let’s get straight into it. Wanted to find the absolute best playbooks for my QB in Madden 25, especially for passing. Figured other folks are hunting the same thing, so here’s exactly what I did step by step.
Starting Point: QB Needs First
Grabbed my controller, fired up the game, and went straight into the team management menu. Scrolled through every single team, one by one. Needed playbooks built for throwing the rock, not just run-heavy stuff. My focus? Finding schemes with lots of shotgun formations, good short and deep routes mixed together, maybe some cool option plays if possible. Basically, tools to let my QB shine.
Digging Into The Playbooks Themselves
Didn’t just look at names. I actually selected each playbook that caught my eye and dove into the Formation section. Spent ages cycling through formations under “Passing” and “Shotgun”. Was looking for ones stacked with 3-4 wide receiver sets consistently. Stuff like “Trips” or “Spread”. Needed variety. Found a bunch that seemed promising just based on formation count:
- Kansas City Chiefs: Loaded with options. Felt flexible.
- Miami Dolphins: Fast-paced, tons of shotgun, looked perfect for quick throws.
- Cincinnati Bengals: Deep shot heaven, lots of play action bombs.
- Philadelphia Eagles: Really liked the mobile QB stuff, rollouts, options.
- San Francisco 49ers: Surprisingly good variety in passing concepts mixed with their runs.
Testing Playbooks Against the CPU
Theory only gets you so far. Picked my team, scrolled to the playbook screen in the main menu settings, and started swapping them in. Loaded up an exhibition game on All-Pro difficulty against a tough defensive CPU opponent. Played a full quarter with each playbook on my shortlist.
Ran dummy drives focusing purely on passing situations. Second down? Third and long? Needing a big completion? Called passes. Checked things like:
- How easy was it to find an open receiver on crucial plays?
- Did the routes make sense or just bunch everyone up?
- Any formations especially nasty for confusing the defense?
The Dolphins playbook felt insanely quick getting the ball out. Chiefs offered more strategic depth. Bengals? If I had time for deep routes, it ripped defenses apart. Eagles was chaos, in a good way, letting my QB scramble effectively.
What Actually Worked Best (For Me)
Honestly, after testing, settled on two mainly for my pocket passer QB style:
- Dolphins: Became my new favorite. The volume of shotgun plays with quick slants, crosses, and screens is crazy. Felt efficient, less risky throws. Perfect if my QB isn’t super mobile.
- Chiefs: Still keeping this one handy. More traditional but super reliable. Better play action variety, felt more control over drives sometimes.
The Bengals and Eagles are fantastic too, but depended more on having specific QB skills I didn’t always have. Felt like I needed to force stuff sometimes.
Here’s the kicker though – planned to film some gameplay clips showing the best formations from each. Got everything loaded for the Dolphins playbook testing. Hit record, started playing… completely forgot the damn spaghetti sauce bubbling on the stove. Suddenly smelled smoke. Absolute panic mode. Slammed the controller down, sprinted to the kitchen. Burnt sauce everywhere, pot ruined, smoke alarm blaring. Spent the next hour cleaning that disaster zone. My “highlight video”? Nothing but the pause menu and 45 seconds of a QB standing idle before the chaos. Typical.