Bob Whitfield Madden Career 1994-2007 - Peak 94 OVR

Atlanta took Bob Whitfield eighth overall in 1992, a consensus All-American left tackle out of Stanford, and got twelve years out of the pick. He protected a parade of quarterbacks from Chris Miller to Chris Chandler to a young Michael Vick, and he was the blindside anchor of the 1998 team that upset Minnesota in the NFC Championship and reached Super Bowl XXXIII. His lone Pro Bowl came the next season, in 1999.

The ratings map his long prime. A 77 in the 1996 edition climbed to a 90 in the 2000 edition, dipped, then hit 90 again in the 2003 edition, giving him two peak years nearly a full console generation apart. He played 220 games and started 176, then finished with brief stops in Jacksonville and, in 2006, with the Giants, where he earned the unfortunate nickname 'Head-butt Bob' for a pair of costly personal fouls against Dallas. Off the field he built PatchWerk, a well-known Atlanta recording studio, and later went back to finish his Stanford economics degree. For a franchise that has churned through linemen, Whitfield was a rare fixture.