ARLINGTON, Texas (May 14, 2025) – When EA Sports boasts, "If it’s in the game, it’s in the game," Michigan Panthers offensive lineman Ryan Nelson can confidently say: “I’m literally in the game.”
Nelson has become a cornerstone figure for EA Sports’ top football titles, providing the motion-capture work for nearly all offensive line play in Madden ’25, Madden ’26 and College Football ’25. When gamers pancake defenders, pull around the edge, or celebrate a big play, chances are they’re seeing Nelson in action — even if they don’t know it.
“I put that cool animation suit on and act out all the offensive line motion that you see for all the EA games,” Nelson said. “So everything from the huge pancake blocks to the massive blocks down field, to your base idle block where I'm just sitting there doing nothing, to getting absolutely crushed and thrown backwards by a bull rush.”
“Burns goes, ‘Hey, there's tryouts for this. You need to go do it. They need some bigs, go do it,’” Nelson recalled. “I was like, ‘You know what? Let's go.’ I went and did it. It was really easy drill work to see how well you move ... so when they put a suit on you, they can see how well the animation is going to be and how realistic it's going to look. They called me that night and told me I had my first gig for Madden '25.”
What started as a single shoot has evolved into a recurring role. Nelson now travels to motion capture sessions in Los Angeles and Vancouver where he not only performs the bulk of the offensive line movement, but also contributes ideas. He even choreographs some of the game’s most memorable celebrations.
“We have to brainstorm ideas,” Nelson said of the game’s famous celebrations. “ I've gotten to do a lot of the main celebrations people see in the games. I had some of my students (Nelson works as a teacher at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles in the off-season) tell me how they had a celebration in the game where someone's bench pressing somebody. That was my idea in Vancouver for Madden '25. It's literally me bench pressing somebody. A bunch of other celebrations that are coming out that are … my ideas. So it's really cool getting to see behind the scenes on that.”
Nelson’s role has expanded from the first gig, where he was just one of the performers for offensive line motion capture. Now, it’s primarily just him, with others only brought in when they need double team sequences or sequences with multiple linemen.
“I am the offensive line at this point,” he said. “I'm leading all the offensive line work. So I hear all the stuff that we're doing and I kind of control it.”
Nelson’s real-world versatility helps. During a USFL game against the New Jersey Generals in Canton, Ohio, in 2023 he played every position on the line except center.
“We went in with six guys and when guys started cramping, I just started rotating so guys could get breaks,” he said. “So doing that and then going to EA, I was, ‘I can do it all for you.’”
EA Sports designer Kenneth Boatright, a former NFL defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys, said Nelson’s impact goes beyond motion capture — he helps shape the overall feel of the game.
“I think one of the big key factors when you have a guy like Ryan, who's active in the sport, is you get good technique,” Boatright said. “He allows us to push the actual foundational feel of football into the video game and (enables) that animation to be a lot more authentic.”
Boatright also credits Nelson for his leadership on set.
“Guys (are) going rep after rep, after rep, after rep,” Boatright said. “Ryan does a really good job of keeping everybody's spirits up. When the energy kind of gets low ... I still need you to hit that guy and lay him on his back. And that guy's tired of getting hit. Ryan does a good job of coaching everybody up. He does a great job helping me keep the guys in tune throughout the entire eight or so hours.”
The work can be intense. Nelson described days where he spent hours filming while others cycled in for 15-minute sessions when he needed a break.
“It's a lot (of work), but it's a lot of fun,” he said. “By the time you're done with two days of filming, your legs are fried. Honestly, there are times where I'm like, this might actually be more (work) than practice.”
He has even been tasked with refining specific movements — like how linemen pull on run plays.
“I spent a half day of filming doing every pull known to man from all different angles,” Nelson said. “It is cool doing that and then understanding how it should look as a player and putting it into the game to make it look more realistic.”
EA has also leaned on him to replicate the individual movements of certain NFL legends.
“When they say they need a special kick for how Joe Thomas (former 10-time NFL All-Pro lineman for the Cleveland Browns and 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee) kicks or how Trent Williams (11-time NFL All-Pro lineman for the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers) does something… there's some stuff that you have to mirror,” Nelson said. “And that's pretty easy to do, honestly, because I've been playing offensive line for so long. For me, it's not even acting. it's literally going out there and just doing football.””
Not all the hits are simulated, either.
“Some of the really cool (animations) like the massive contact hits, people are like, ‘Wow, that looks cool.’”
Nelson’s response: “Dude, we're hitting each other as hard as possible. It’s the real thing. Like, that's not fake. That's not us acting. It's someone's running in, we're full speed into each other.”
Nelson gets a unique thrill seeing his animations in action — both on-screen and behind the scenes.
“Watching how they take the suit to the animation and each step it goes through is really cool,” Nelson said. “I can watch myself do it on actual video and then see them break down the skeletal structure and make the skeleton, make the body. That's cool to watch them do in the back.”
It even gives him a real edge on the sticks.
“I know how the scheme is supposed to be with the offensive line blocking, because I'm the one doing it,” he said. “It's a little bit unfair. I'll play the game with my brother or someone and kill them in the run game.”
From the UFL trenches to the digital gridiron, Nelson has carved out a rare niche — one block, one celebration, and one game-changing rep at a time.