Ricky Watters Madden Career 1994-2002 - Peak 95 OVR

Ricky Watters won a national title at Notre Dame in 1988 and came to San Francisco in the second round in 1991, then lost his entire rookie season to injury before playing a down. Once healthy he was one of the most dynamic backs in football, a slashing runner and a real receiving threat who made five straight Pro Bowls from 1992 through 1996.

Madden's grade climbed with the workload. It first rated him a 69 for the 1993 season, then jumped him to a 95 in Madden NFL '95 for 1994, the year he ran for three touchdowns in the 49-26 Super Bowl XXIX rout of San Diego, tying a Super Bowl record and briefly making him the best back the game recognized. He was that good, the number kept pace, and it even rose again after he left, into the low 90s as an Eagle and a Seahawk.

The other thing Watters is remembered for came in Philadelphia. In his first game as an Eagle in 1995, he pulled up short on a pass over the middle to avoid a hit, and when asked about it afterward said, "For who? For what?" The line followed him the rest of his career and is still cited as a reason a productive back has struggled to reach the Hall of Fame. He finished with 10,643 rushing yards and 91 total touchdowns, and remains the only running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season for three different franchises. A star, in other words, with an asterisk he wrote himself.