Madden 22 Ultimate Team is ready to kick into high gear with the NFL season now underway, and the first big step will be the MUT 22 Team of the Week 1 release.
TOTW 1 should highlight some of the best players from this NFL week, and that means some exciting new cards are on the way for MUT 22!
Madden 22 Ultimate Team: MUT 22 TOTW 1 Release Date
Madden 22 Ultimate Team is just about ready to dive into this year's first Team of the Week offering, and there will no doubt be some exciting options after a hot start to the NFL season.
While we don't yet have confirmation of how they're planning to do TOTW releases this year, we can expect MUT 22 to use a similar format to last year with a POTW, LTD, Offensive and Defensive Heroes, and several other upgrades as well.
The standard last year was to have the TOTW dropped on Good Morning Madden each Tuesday around 10:30am ET, and we know of at least one player on EA's mind thanks to a tweet teasing Tyler Lockett as a potential pick.
With so much action landing after Lockett's epic touchdown, we'll see if he even makes it into this week's predictions for MUT 22 TOTW 1!
Player of the Week 1 (POTW) - Jameis Winston, New Orleans Saints
While a lot of players kicked off the NFL season with a big performance, none stand out as much as Jameis Winston and the absolute thrashing of the Green Bay Packers by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
With just 148 passing yards, but a massive 5 touchdowns, supplemented by some successful rushing as well, Jameis is likely for Player of the Week (POTW) in MUT 22 TOTW 1.
Team of the Week 1 LTD - TJ Watt (2017)
In the past, we've seen an LTD drop highlighting a player's past performance on this week in NFL history, but it could be linked to their modern success as well.
With a solid pair of sacks and five QB hits this week, we're predicting an LTD calling back to TJ Watt's 9/10/2017 performance against the Cleveland Browns where he carried their team to victory with two sacks, two tackles for loss, one interception, and six solo tackles. After all, MUT veterans know TJ Watt is no stranger to fantastic cards.
TOTW 1 Offensive & Defensive Heroes Predictions
Heroes are likely to factor into Team of the Week once again, and here we'll be looking at the players who look most poised to take a MUT 22 Heroes card on each side of the ball.
Offensive Hero: Antonio Brown
A lot of wide receivers and other offensive players had a good starting week, but Antonio Brown went crazy with 121 yards off just five receptions, and that's not all.
He nabbed both a receiving and rushing touchdown, with that receiving TD being his longest at 47 yards as well - all of which putting him in position to be the TOTW 1 Offensive Hero.
Defensive Hero: Chandler Jones
Few players had the week Chandler Jones did, and his insane five sacks and two forced fumbles were undeniable.
While plenty of credit goes to the Arizona offense, there's no doubt Chandler's performance helped hold Tennessee to just 13 points in Arizona's 38-13 victory.
TOTW 1 - Other Player Upgrade Predictions
Finally, we should see a handful of other players highlighted with Team of the Week 1 in MUT 22, potentially with slightly upgraded cards or Power Ups.
Offense: Melvin Gordon, Dak Prescott, Rob Gronkowski
On the offensive side of the ball, three names stand out, starting with Dak Prescott who threw for 403 yards despite a losing effort against the Buccaneers.
Meanwhile, Rob Gronkowski had two touchdowns with zero drops, and Melvin Gordon had a great week with 101 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown on just 11 carries.
Defense: Marshon Lattimore, Eric Kendricks, Dre Greenlaw
On the other side of the field, relative youngster Dre Greenlaw snagged the only pick six of the week after returning an interception 39 yards for the touchdown.
Even without crazy numbers, Marshon Lattimore was a key piece of holding Green Bay to just three points, and Eric Kendricks had 7 solo tackles with 8 assists on tackles this week.