6 Most Overpowered Players in Madden History

Over the years, EA Sports’ Madden NFL series has essentially become the only game in town for football fans. There have been a few attempts from studios trying to usurp the crown, but nobody has managed to pull it off in the last 20 years, which is when EA got the exclusive license to simulation-style NFL games. With decades of releases, Madden has turned a few real-world players into digital gods, giving them incredible stats that made it nearly impossible to play against them. You’ll find six such players below. These aren’t the only OP Madden players, but they are the ones you’d least want to see. And for what it’s worth, a few notable honorable mentions include Marcel Reece in Madden 11, Ed Reed in Madden 2006, and Deion Sanders in Madden ’99.

Here are the six most overpowered players in Madden history.

6) Barry Sanders – Madden 2000

The image above is from Madden 2013. Unfortunately, video games did not look like that in 1999, but finding a suitable image of the Detroit Lions legend is a tall order. As is tackling the diminutive running back. During this era, EA was willing to go above the hallowed 99 rating, which means Sanders is one of only seven players to earn a 100 overall rating.

Frankly, he deserved it. There’s never been a player in modern football history as shifty as Barry Sanders. He could turn a five-yard loss into a 50-yard gain with his Houdini-like escape ability. That’s nearly perfectly replicated in Madden 2000, making him one of the toughest players to tackle this side of Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl.

5) LaDainian Tomlinson – Madden 08

Like Sanders, LT is a great back with game-changing potential. However, his 2007 version is grabbing a spot above Sanders because of his sheer versatility. Remember, this is a guy in real-life who had a season where he rushed for nearly 1,815 yards and 28 TDs, and another season where he caught 100 passes.

On top of all that, Tomlinson was one of the best gadget players of all-time, tossing seven touchdown passes over his career. In Madden 08, you could run the RB Option Pass and absolutely demolish teams trying to find a way to stop him. Spoiler alert: you can’t.

4) Randy Moss – Madden 2002

Moss actually didn’t attain a 99 rating until he was playing in Oakland in Madden 06, but 2002 was when he was at the peak of his powers. Not only was he blindingly fast, could jump out of the gym, and catch just about everything, but his quarterback, Madden 2002 cover boy Dante Culpepper, had a rocket of an arm, making go routes a near-guaranteed touchdown.

Having that kind of firepower at your fingertips made it relatively easy to blowout opponents. If you did find yourself losing, the Culpepper-Moss connection was about as close to the Splash Brothers Golden State Warriors as a football has ever been. I’m not saying playing as the Vikings in Madden 2002 was unfair, but I am saying there’s a reason I played as Minnesota that’s unrelated to my rooting interests.

3) Peyton Manning – Madden 06

As you can see in the image above, one of the new features added in Madden 06 was the QB vision cone. The idea was to simulate a quarterback’s ability to read the field. If you had a narrow vision, you’d need to lock in on a reciever or your pass wouldn’t be accurate. Better QBs had a larger cone, making it easier to throw to multiple wideouts.

Manning’s cone went far beyond everyone else. The guy could essentially see the entire field, meaning everyone on his team was an option at all times. That made his Colts much harder to defend and replicated Manning’s computer-like processing power in the thick of action.

2) Jerry Rice – Madden 99

Remember when I said there are seven players in Madden history with a 100 overall rating? Well, Jerry Rice, the greatest receiver of all time, was given a 189 rating in Madden ’99. That’s not a typo or a glitch. The WR G.O.A.T. was appropriately rated as the best player in Madden history.

Pairing him with the always great Steve Young was even more unfair than Moss and Culpepper. If you weren’t breaking every receiving record with this version of Rice, you needed to find a new game to play. That said, while he might be the highest-rated Madden player, he is far from the best-ever.

1) Michael Vick – Madden 2004

Michael Vick was a relatively pedestrian 95 overall in Madden 2004. That’s a solid rating, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of player who would top a list like this. Well, that’s because you haven’t seen Madden 2004 Mike Vick play.

Blessed with a near-perfect mix of speed, agility, throw power, and accuracy, Vick was nearly unstoppable as a dual-threat quarterback. Even with the pocket breaking down around him, Vick could buy hours with his legs and then chuck the pigskin a quarter mile for a touchdown that any other player would find impossible.

Look, the other players on this list are great Madden players. You’re going to have success with any of them, but Michael Vick was so dominant that EA had to spend the entire Madden 2005 development cycle improving defense. Vick broke the game so completely that the next Madden was coded around stopping him. It doesn’t get more overpowered than that.

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