Luther Elliss Madden Career 1996-2005 - Peak 92 OVR
Luther Elliss Madden NFL 2005 rating

Luther Elliss Madden Career 1996-2005 - Peak 92 OVR

Position
DT
Team
Lions
Height
6'5"
Weight
318
College
Utah
DOB
Mar 22, 1973
Madden
1995-2004
83OVR
2004 Current
92OVR
Peak 2001
7
Seasons Played

Utah All-American who rushed the passer from inside for Detroit

Detroit spent the 20th pick of the 1995 draft on Luther Elliss, a consensus All-American out of Utah, and got nine seasons of interior force. At 6-5 and better than 300 pounds, he collapsed pockets from the inside, piling up 29 career sacks, an unusual total for a tackle whose main job was holding the point against the run. He earned Pro Bowl trips after the 1999 and 2000 seasons and finished his Lions run in 2003 before a final year in Denver.

The 1996 edition listed him at a modest 38 as a young rotational lineman. By the turn of the century his game had caught up to his talent, and the 2000 and 2001 editions graded him a 91 and a 92, his high-water marks. Life after football was hard. Elliss filed for bankruptcy in 2010, then rebuilt himself in coaching and eventually returned to Utah to work with defensive linemen. His sons Kaden and Jonah both reached the NFL.

Luther Elliss Madden Career Milestones

  • Peak rating: 92 OVR in Madden NFL 2002 (age 28)
  • Appeared in 7 Madden releases (Madden NFL 1996 through Madden NFL 2005)
  • Entered at 66 OVR in Madden NFL 1996, climbed 26 points to his peak
  • Biggest single-year rise: 36 points into Madden NFL 2002
  • Played for 2 franchises: Lions, Broncos
  • Listed as a defensive lineman in every Madden release
  • Final Madden appearance: Madden NFL 2005 at 83 OVR

Luther Elliss Madden Career Ratings

Scale (starred* rows) Only the starred 1-15-era seasons convert; modern rows stay 0-99.
Madden Team Pos OVR Speed ACC AGI STR JMP STA INJ TGH AWR THP TAS TAM TAD CAR BTK CTH RBK PBK TAK PUR KPW KAC KRN
1996 *
1995 NFL season
 Lions LDE 66* 33 - 40 - - - - - 73 - - - - - - 13 - - 59 59 - - -
1997
1996 NFL season
 Lions RDT 38 46 26 53 - 95 69 - - 44 - - - - 7 23 19 - - 36 - - - -
1998 *
1997 NFL season
 Lions RDT 56* 59 - 53 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 46 - - - -
2002
2001 NFL season
 Lions RDT 92 58 71 55 95 43 87 87 95 89 21 18 18 18 21 - 16 16 12 94 - 17 16 -
2003
2002 NFL season
 Lions RDT 84 52 61 49 93 44 65 78 92 - 25 - - - 24 - 20 22 17 92 - 21 20 -
2004
2003 NFL season
 Lions DT 90 52 61 49 93 44 65 78 92 88 25 22 22 22 24 - 20 22 17 92 - 21 20 0
2005
2004 NFL season
 Broncos DT 83 48 58 45 89 44 60 60 86 88 25 - - - 24 - 20 22 17 87 - 21 20 -
How to read these: Each row is the player’s rating in that year’s Madden, listed by the NFL season it covers (Madden NFL 2001 = the 2000 season). Madden sets its ratings before the season is played, so they reflect the previous season’s performance - a player’s breakout year tends to show up as a jump in the following year’s game.
About the starred rows*: Several early Madden releases rated players on a 1-15 scale, as printed in the game manuals, rather than the modern 0-99. We store those ratings converted to 0-99 (each manual point is about 6.6) so you can compare players across eras at a glance - use the 0-99 / 1-15 toggle above the table to see the original numbers on those seasons. EA didn’t publish an overall rating in those games, so the OVR* values for those years are our own calculation, the average of the player’s two best ratings.
Note: Some Madden releases tracked fewer attributes than others. Cells shown as - were not published by EA that year.

Era Defensive Linemen who played alongside Luther Elliss

Albert Haynesworth Madden ratings
Albert Haynesworth
Madden NFL 2003-2012
99
 Michael Strahan Madden ratings
Michael Strahan
Madden NFL 1995-2009
99
 Warren Sapp Madden ratings
Warren Sapp
Madden NFL 1996-2008 - Raiders
99
 Wayne Martin Madden ratings
Wayne Martin
Madden NFL 1992-2000 - Saints
99
 Julius Peppers Madden ratings
Julius Peppers
Madden NFL 2003-2019 - Panthers
98
 Justin Smith Madden ratings
Justin Smith
Madden NFL 2002-2015 - 49ers
98
 Dwight Freeney Madden ratings
Dwight Freeney
Madden NFL 2003-2014 - Chargers
98
 Pat Williams Madden ratings
Pat Williams
Madden NFL 2001-2012
98

Luther Elliss Madden Ratings by Year

Luther Elliss Madden NFL 1996 rating: 66 OVR (1995 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 1997 rating: 38 OVR (1996 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 1998 rating: 56 OVR (1997 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 2002 rating: 92 OVR (2001 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 2003 rating: 84 OVR (2002 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 2004 rating: 90 OVR (2003 NFL season, DET). Luther Elliss Madden NFL 2005 rating: 83 OVR (2004 NFL season, DEN).