Harris Barton Madden Career 1992-1997 - Peak 98 OVR

Harris Barton came out of North Carolina as a first-round pick, 22nd overall, in 1987, and spent his entire career at right tackle for San Francisco, protecting the men who mattered most to the franchise. He started as a rookie, won three Super Bowls, and was twice a first-team All-Pro, in 1992 and 1993, the best right tackle on the best team in football.

This time the grade agreed. Madden had Barton at a 76 for the 1991 season, then tracked his rise into the All-Pro years precisely: an 86 for 1993 and a 98 in Madden NFL '95 for his first-team 1994 season, one of the highest marks any lineman on this roster ever drew, and a deserved one. When the honors tapered off, so did the number, back to the 70s by the middle of the decade. Where the game spiked John Taylor to a 98 it could not justify, Barton earned his.

Barton played twelve seasons, all with the 49ers, through 1998, doing the quiet, essential work of keeping Joe Montana and Steve Young upright. He was as accomplished afterward, co-founding an investment firm with his teammates Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana. A first-round tackle who became an All-Pro and a three-time champion, Barton is the unusual 49ers lineman the game rated exactly as high as he deserved.