Dominique Ross Madden Career 1996-1997 - Peak 62 OVR

Dominique Ross was a record-setter at Valdosta State, the Division II school's all-time leading rusher with more than 3,200 yards and 36 touchdowns under Hal Mumme. Undrafted in 1995, he signed with Dallas and spent most of the year on the practice squad, a small-college back with no room to run behind Emmitt Smith, promoted to the active roster only at the tail end of the season.

The Madden cards barely register him, and honestly they should not. His Madden NFL 96 entry lists a 62 on the old low-number scale, but the attributes tell the truth, a 46 speed and a 13 carry rating, the profile of a body on the roster rather than a back in the plans. The next year the number falls to a 7, about as close as Madden comes to admitting a player exists without giving him a real grade, the card matching a career that produced three games and no carries of note.

What Ross does have is a ring. He was on the active roster for the Super Bowl XXX champions after the 1995 season, a couple of special-teams tackles his only real NFL mark, then washed out of a Tampa Bay camp and drifted into the minor leagues. His three games are the whole NFL story, a Division II star who got the briefest possible look and happened to get it on a team that won it all.