John Taylor Madden Career 1992-1996 - Peak 98 OVR

John Taylor reached the NFL from Delaware State, a small HBCU program, as a third-round pick in 1986, and spent nine seasons doing the two things the 49ers needed next to Jerry Rice: taking the top off a defense and winning games in the final minute. He is the man who caught the throw that won Super Bowl XXIII, a 10-yard strike from Joe Montana with 34 seconds left against Cincinnati. It was his only reception of the game.

His Madden grades read like a receiver the game could not make up its mind about. Taylor sat in the 60s for the 1991 and 1992 seasons, dropped to a 56 for 1993, then spiked all the way to a 98 in Madden NFL '95 for the 1994 season, a number that belonged to a top-two receiver in football and not to Rice's very good complement. The game had gotten carried away, and it walked him back to an 89 the next year. The truth sat somewhere in the middle, which is roughly where he always played.

Taylor was a genuine weapon, not just a possession man. He made back-to-back Pro Bowls in 1988 and 1989 and was one of the most dangerous punt returners of his era, once returning two punts for touchdowns in a single game against Washington in 1988, one of them a 95-yard sprint. He finished with 347 catches, 5,598 yards and 43 touchdowns, and three Super Bowl rings, all with San Francisco. He never had to carry an offense, and the ring-clinching catch is proof he did not need to.