Wendell Davis DB - Cowboys Madden Career 1997-1998 - Peak 76 OVR

This Wendell Davis is not the LSU receiver who shredded his knees in Chicago, but an Oklahoma cornerback the Cowboys took in the sixth round in 1996. He was a special-teams contributor as a rookie, a dozen tackles on coverage units, the low rung a late-round corner starts on, and Dallas kept him around the edges of the roster for a few seasons.

The Madden cards track the thin NFL profile. He opens at a 29 in Madden NFL 97, about right for a sixth-round rookie playing teams, rises to a converted 76 in Madden NFL 98, then sits at a 67 in Madden NFL 2001, the numbers of a depth defensive back who never nailed down a starting job. A torn ACL in 1998 and the injuries that followed kept cutting into whatever momentum he built.

His real career happened after the NFL let go. Davis moved to the XFL and then the Arena Football League, where he won ArenaBowl titles with the San Jose SaberCats and played into the mid-2000s, a far longer and more decorated run than his few Cowboys seasons ever were. He later coached in the indoor game. The Madden cards only ever saw the marginal NFL version, a special-teamer hanging on, and missed the player who actually won championships on a smaller field.