Thomas Everett Madden Career 1992-1996 - Peak 96 OVR

Thomas Everett won the first-ever Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back at Baylor, then became a ball-hawking safety the Steelers drafted in the fourth round in 1987. His career changed with a trade to Dallas in 1992, where he became the free safety on back-to-back championship teams.

Madden liked his range. Everett peaked at a 96 in Madden NFL 95 for the 1995 season, a Tampa Bay card built on 95 speed, one of the higher safety grades of the era, though his awareness ratings bounced around enough to suggest the number was partly noise. At his best he was a rangy, playmaking safety, exactly the profile the high grade implies.

Everett intercepted two passes in the Super Bowl XXVII rout of Buffalo and started again in XXVIII, the steadying presence on the back end of a loaded defense. He finished his career with Tampa Bay and around 26 interceptions across nine seasons. Madden's 96 flatters him slightly, but the two rings and the Thorpe Award do not: Everett was a genuinely good safety who was in the right place, on the right defense, at the right time.