Kavika Pittman Madden Career 1997-2004 - Peak 80 OVR

Kavika Pittman came out of McNeese State, a small-school edge rusher the Cowboys liked enough to take in the second round in 1996, thirty-seventh overall. At six foot six and 273 pounds he had the frame of a starting defensive end, and Dallas brought him along behind a veteran front, which is why his rookie Madden card sits at a 35, the grade of a project who has not played yet.

The number climbed exactly as his role did. He rose to a 52, then jumped to an 80 in Madden NFL 99 for the 1998 season as he became a regular, and settled into the high 70s as a Cowboys starter. His peak came after he left, an 83 in Madden NFL 2001 for his first year in Denver, the season he posted a career-high seven sacks. For a small-school player who started as a developmental piece, the arc from a 35 to an 83 is a clean picture of a career that grew snap by snap.

Pittman played eleven seasons across Dallas, Denver and Carolina, finishing with eighteen sacks in 108 games. He arrived in Denver in 2000, after the Broncos' back-to-back titles, so the ring his teammates wore was not his. He was never a household name, but he was a useful pro for a decade, and Madden's steady climb tracks the honest shape of a rotational end who earned his starting job the slow way.