Derrick Thomas Madden Career 1992-2000 - Peak 92 OVR

Derrick Thomas was born on January 1, 1967, in Miami, Florida, and played college football at Alabama, where he won the Butkus Award in 1988. The Kansas City Chiefs selected him fourth overall in the 1989 NFL draft. He recorded 10 sacks as a rookie and was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. In 1990 he had 20 sacks, seven of them in one game against Seattle on November 11, and the Associated Press named him first-team All-Pro.

Thomas repeated as an AP first-team All-Pro in 1991, a season Madden NFL 92 graded at a calculated 73. He was voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first nine seasons, 1989 through 1997, and won the NFL Man of the Year award in 1993, the year Madden NFL 94 put him at a calculated 92. Madden NFL 99 also placed him at a calculated 92 for 1998. His final season, 1999, drew a calculated 84 in Madden NFL 2000.

On January 23, 2000, Thomas lost control of his vehicle on Interstate 435 near Kansas City during a snowstorm and was left paralyzed from the chest down. He died on February 8, 2000, of a pulmonary embolism, aged 33. His 11 seasons produced 126.5 sacks, 19 fumble recoveries and four touchdowns. Kansas City retired his number 58, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.