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Madden 18: Every NFL team’s best Madden player ever

By David Austin Bumpus

HOUSTON - DECEMBER 1: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passes under pressure from Houston Texans J.J. Watt during the first quarter at Reliant Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
HOUSTON - DECEMBER 1: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passes under pressure from Houston Texans J.J. Watt during the first quarter at Reliant Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi for The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson scores his third touchdown of the day with a 1-yard leap into the endzone late in the second quarter as the San Diego Chargers defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 48 to 19 at Monster Park, San Francisco, California, October 15, 2006. (Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary)
Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson scores his third touchdown of the day with a 1-yard leap into the endzone late in the second quarter as the San Diego Chargers defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 48 to 19 at Monster Park, San Francisco, California, October 15, 2006. (Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary) /

San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers: LaDainian Tomlinson

LaDainian Tomlinson is one of the greatest running backs of all-time, so it should come as no surprise that LT was a pretty fun player to use when it came to picking up the controller for any Madden games.

Tomlinson was an absolute beast year in and year out both in real life and in the game, but had two years of sheer dominance in 2008 and 2009 in the franchise. He had a 99 overall rating in the game each year, and absolutely torched defenses left and right out of the backfield for the San Diego Chargers.

It’s surprising that he couldn’t break the 99 threshold until that point in his career, even after his record-setting season in 2006 for most rushing touchdowns in a single year, but Tomlinson surely took advantage of the opportunity when he finally got it in 2008. He was a beast in the backfield, and gamers could utilize his 96 speed and 98 acceleration to burn pretty much any lineman, linebacker, cornerback, whoever you wanted to put out there on his way to the end zone.

Tomlinson even had a 85 catch rating in the 2008 edition of the game, so players had the decision to hand him the ball and let him do his thing, or confuse opponents and split him out wide or on screens to crush defenses that way, as well.

We have even seen Tomlinson utilized in more recent versions of Madden as a legend, and he’s just as much of a cheat code now as he was 10 years ago in the game.