Jim Schwantz Madden Career 1997-1998 - Peak 79 OVR

Jim Schwantz was an undrafted linebacker out of Purdue whose NFL value was almost entirely on special teams, a coverage ace who set a Cowboys single-season record with 32 special-teams tackles. He won a Super Bowl ring with Dallas, then spent a season in San Francisco in 1997 doing the same thankless, essential work on the kicking units.

Madden's two cards of him swing the way they do for a player who never plays defense. The game rated him a 24 as a Cowboy and a 79 as a 49er, the second number a scale-conversion artifact more than a real grade, since nothing about his role changed. He started zero games in a career that spanned 78 of them, so there was nothing for the ratings to measure but the noise.

Schwantz played for the Bears, Cowboys and 49ers before retiring, a special-teams specialist with a ring and a record. His second act was the memorable one: he went into local politics and was elected mayor of Palatine, Illinois. The linebacker the game could barely grade ran a town, which is a better line on a resume than any Madden card.