After your QB has made a pass to one of your wide receivers or tight ends, the play may have only just begun. Depending on how well you control your player and have them run with the ball, you can extend the play beyond the pass for even more yards in Madden NFL 26. However, to do that, you're going to need to use the various moves in your arsenal to evade incoming defensive players, or just flatten them entirely. In this guide, I'll explain all ball carrier moves in Madden NFL 26, including Saquon Barkley's reverse hurdle, so you can get those all-important yards on every play.
How to One-Hand Catch in Madden 26
Learn how to one-handed catch with your receivers in Madden 26 to complete those tricky passes and put on a show for the fans.
How to Do All Ball Carrier Moves in College Football 26
How to Spin
The spin can be effective for helping you to avoid an oncoming defender, as it allows your ball carrier to quickly evade the impending tackle and exploit a gap either side of the defensive player. You can maintain your sprinting momentum with the ball carrier and avoid taking a hit, allowing you to gain some extra yards before another defender comes in, or continue your run downfield.
To spin, press Circle on PS5, or B on Xbox, and move the left stick in the direction you want your player to spin.
How to Hurdle
To hurdle a defender, press Triangle/ Y as you're running towards an incoming defender. Timing is important here, if you do it too early, you'll just jump straight into the grasp of the defender. Do it too late, and the defensive player will already have tackled your ball carrier to the ground. Make sure you time it just before you think the tackling animation is starting and your player should hurdle over them.
Your ball carrier's jumping stat also comes into play in the Simulation game style to determine how well they can hurdle over players. Make sure you're only trying this with ball carriers who have a high jumping stat.
How to Truck
Trucking is where your ball carrier charges through a defender in their way, knocking them down to the floor and carrying on their run. Trucking is done by flicking the right forward as a defender is coming towards you.
Keep in mind that while trucking will knock the defensive player to the floor and allow you to carry on your run, it'll also slow your ball carrier down. This makes it easier for other defensive players to catch up with you and make a tackle.
Your player's trucking stat, as well as the stats of the defensive players trying to stop your ball carrier make a difference here, so you're not guaranteed to successfully knock a defensive player down every time you truck.
How to Stiff Arm
The stiff arm is a great move if the defense is coming at you from the side. Your ball carrier will stick their arm out and essentially keep the defender at bay all the while carrying on with their run. It allows them to maintain more momentum than trucking as there's less contact being made between the two players, but if a defender has some high stats in terms of tackling, it might not stop them.
To stiff arm, press and hold the X/A button as a defender is coming in to make a tackle. The timing isn't as important here. As long as the button is held down as the tackle is attempted, your player will do their best to stiff arm the defender away.
How to Juke
Juking can also be thought of as 'feinting,' with your player pretending to go one way before sprinting off in the other. This allows you to send defenders the wrong way and continue your run. Because this is more of an 'agility-based' move and doesn't involve making contact with defenders, it allows your ball carrier to maintain their momentum.
To juke, move the right stick in the direction you want your player to move.
How to Hesi Juke (Dead Leg)
The hesi juke, also known as the dead leg in Madden 26, is similar to the juke, but done on a 'forward-backward' axis instead. By flicking the right analog stick down while you're running with the ball, your player will stop their run before carrying on.
This can be particularly effective if a defender is coming in from the side at high speed and is anticipating where you're going to be to make a tackle. The hesi juke will see them over-estimate where you're going to be, missing you entirely and leaving them in a heap on the floor so your ball carrier can continue on with their run untouched.
However, because your ball carrier is stopping entirely, they lose a lot of momentum. Having one of the fastest wide receivers or one with high acceleration using this move can help mitigate this loss of momentum and get your charging down the field again.
How to Slide and Dive
The slide and dive moves are both used to gain some extra final yards on the play as you're running. Sliding will see your player 'give up' the play and slide to the ground to avoid contact from a tackle and hopefully prevent any potential injuries. Diving will see them jumping forward through the air to get an extra few yards.
Sliding is done by pressing the Square/ X button, while diving is done by holding it instead.
This is also how you QB slide if you're running with a Quarterback.
How to Do Saquon Barkley Reverse Hurdle
Do the Cover Move!
Saquon Barkley made the cover of Madden 26 with his reverse hurdle, and the chances are players are going to want to emulate this themselves.
To do the reverse hurdle, you must be running the ball with Saquon Barkley, and press Triangle/ Y as a defender is coming at you from an angle ahead of you. In other words, they can't be running straight at you. Imagine drawing lines that extend out from each of Barkley's shoulders on a diagonal, and this is the angle you'll need the oncoming defender to be to successfully execute the reverse hurdle in Madden 26.
It's worth noting that this isn't something you're going to be able to do easily. You'll need to be almost at full sprint speed with Barkley, and you'll need to get the timing right, just like with a standard hurdle. Because of the specific angle that the defender needs to be coming at you from, you'll likely end up pulling off a standard hurdle when you try and do a reverse one instead.
The best advice I can give is to try and change the direction of Barkley's run when he's at high speed, and focus on getting the timing right after that. With a bit of luck, the angle right, and a bit of speed behind him, you should be able to do the Barkley reverse hurdle in Madden 26, and have the crowd go wild.
Doing the reverse hurdle isn't any more effective than a standard hurdle. It's really in there because it's such an iconic move. It's best done if you want to showboat and are confident you can pull it off (or the drive doesn't matter and you can afford to be tackled if you fail).
- Released
- August 14, 2025
- Developer(s)
- EA Tiburon
- Publisher(s)
- EA
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Madden NFL
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Sports
