Nick Fairley Madden Career 2012-2018 - Peak 91 OVR

In the January 2011 BCS Championship, Fairley bullied Oregon's line for five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble and walked off as the game's defensive MVP. That performance, capping an SEC Defensive Player of the Year season, made him the 13th pick of the 2011 draft, sent to Detroit to line up next to Ndamukong Suh.

The Lions years ran hot and cold. He flashed the quickness that made him a top prospect, then vanished for stretches, and Detroit let him walk after four seasons. A one-year stop in St. Louis preceded his best football in New Orleans, where he posted 6.5 sacks in 2016 and had already landed a four-year contract worth roughly $30 million.

He never collected most of it. In June 2017 doctors found a heart condition, the Saints placed him on the reserve non-football-illness list, and he never played another down, finishing with 20.5 career sacks. His Madden number tracked the ride, from a 77 in the 2011 edition up to a 91 in the 2014 game after a disruptive 2013, then settling into the high 70s and 80s as the interior push came and went.