Dixon Edwards Madden Career 1994-1999 - Peak 57 OVR

Dixon Edwards was a second-round linebacker out of Michigan State in 1991 who started on the edges of the Dallas dynasty defense, a fast, sure tackler who won three Super Bowls in five seasons with the Cowboys. He was never the star of the front seven, but he started in two of those championship games and did the steady, unspectacular work good defenses require.

Madden barely rated him during the Dallas years, when the old scale left his overall unlisted, and gave him a peak of just 57 in Madden NFL 97, the low number of a solid role-playing linebacker. The grade never got excited about him because his game was not built on splash: he was a positional, dependable player rather than a playmaker.

Edwards left for Minnesota in 1996 and had his most productive statistical season there, with 122 tackles, before an irregular heartbeat forced him to retire in 1999. He finished with three rings and more than 400 career tackles, a starter on one of the great defenses of the decade. Madden's modest grades tell you he was never a standout, which is true, and miss that he was a starter on three champions, which matters more.