Warrick Dunn Madden Career 1999-2009 - Peak 91 OVR

Tampa Bay spent the 12th pick of the 1997 draft on a Florida State back who stood 5-9 and weighed under 190 pounds, and Dunn answered by winning Offensive Rookie of the Year and pairing with bruising fullback Mike Alstott in a Buccaneers backfield fans called Thunder and Lightning. He finished with 10,967 rushing yards, 49 rushing touchdowns, and 510 receptions for 4,339 more, a genuine dual threat who could catch a swing pass and turn it into a first down. Three Pro Bowls followed, in 1997, 2000, and 2005, split across his Tampa years and a productive six-season run in Atlanta.

Off the field his impact ran deeper. His mother, Baton Rouge police officer Betty Smothers, was murdered while working an off-duty security job in January 1993, and Dunn, the oldest of six, stepped in to help raise his siblings. In 1997 he launched Homes for the Holidays, furnishing homes for first-time single-parent homeowners, work that earned the 2004 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. His Madden ratings climbed with his Atlanta production, cresting at a 90 in the 2006 edition after an 89 the year before, then tapering to a 75 by 2009.