Kenneth Gant Madden Career 1992-1998 - Peak 76 OVR

Kenneth Gant was a ninth-round pick out of Albany State in 1990, just the late-round flier who has to make a roster on special teams, and he did, becoming a nickel defensive back and coverage-unit regular on two Cowboys championship teams. He was better known for a celebration than a stat line: the Shark Dance, elbows flapping and a hand raised like a dorsal fin, which became a small piece of early-90s Dallas lore.

Madden rated him the way it rates a special-teamer, low and noisy. Gant peaked at a 76 in Madden NFL 96 for the 1995 season with Tampa Bay, and his other cards bounced around the 30s to 60s, with awareness ratings in the teens that show how little the game had on a player who rarely lined up on defense. The numbers are more or less meaningless, which fits a career spent mostly on kick coverage.

Gant won two Super Bowls with Dallas, played a few more years in Tampa Bay, and later became a pastor. He was a role player and a special-teams contributor, just the name only a devoted fan remembers, except perhaps for the dance. Madden's grades never captured him, because the thing he did, cover kicks and fire up a crowd, is not a thing the game knows how to score.