Frank Wycheck Madden Career 1995-2004 - Peak 90 OVR

With 16 seconds left in the January 2000 wild-card game against Buffalo, Frank Wycheck took a handoff on the kickoff return and threw a lateral clear across the field to Kevin Dyson, who ran 75 yards for the touchdown that became the Music City Miracle. It is the play that defines him, but he was far more than one throw. A Philadelphia native drafted in the sixth round out of Maryland in 1993, Wycheck went from Washington to the Oilers and became a chain-moving fixture in Tennessee, catching 505 passes for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns and making three straight Pro Bowls from 1998 to 2000. He was one of only a handful of tight ends past 500 career receptions when he retired.

Madden knew him as a trusted target: a 93 in the 2000 edition anchored a run of ratings that held in the high 80s and low 90s through 2003. Wycheck died in December 2023 at age 52 after a fall at his home in Chattanooga, and a postmortem exam found CTE. He had long spoken about the roughly 25 concussions he estimated suffering during his career.