All-Madden Teams

 By John Turney

John Madden began his famous All-Madden teams in 1984 and the format was CBS-TV and later ABC's Monday Night Football rather than a paper or magazine like others who picked their own teams did.

However, his first foray into an "All" team was in 1981 when he picked a more traditional All-Pro team for Pro! Magazine. The only Maddenesque thing he did was move guard Randy Cross to center from his guard position. But Madden did pick from all the teams making it a "normal" All-Star team.

The All-Madden team was not that, but an esoteric team that was "Madden-type" players, guys he liked who were the kind of players he'd want to coach. Additionally, they only came from the pool of players he covered in a given season, so some players were simply not eligible.

Nonetheless, it is still worth a mention since we've covered All-Joe and Allmost Pro Teams in recent days.

We're going to crib from Wikipedia on this post since we wrote the All-Madden section of the page anyway—many years ago. 

Madden took the advice of NFL coach John Robinson—a friend of Madden since elementary school—and created the "All-Madden" team, a group of players who Madden thought represented football and played the game the way he thought it should be played.

Madden continued to pick the All-Madden team through the 2001 season when he left to move to ABC and Monday Night Football. Madden added his "Haul of Fame" for his favorite players, he created a special 10th Anniversary All-Madden team in 1994, an All-Madden Super Bowl Team in 1997, and an All-Time All-Madden team in 2000. 

In All-Madden, he explained,

What does it mean to be 'All-Madden'? It's a whole range of things. For defensive linemen and linebackers, it's about Jack Youngblood playing with a busted leg, Lawrence Taylor wreaking havoc on the offense, and Reggie White making the other guy wish he put a little more in the collection plate at church. It's about a guy who's got a dirty uniform, mud on his face, and grass in the ear hole of his helmet.

ABC Sports stated, "the All-Madden Team has become synonymous with greatness."

That first year when he narrated the team when he got to Jack Youngblood he said "They out to make a poster of Mr. Football and this guy should be on it".

In 1990 he used the same line for Dan Hampton. It was fitting for both.

Here is the complete initial selections

All-Madden Team -- 1984

Quarterbacks

Joe Montana - 49ers 

Running Backs

Eric Dickerson - Rams

Walter Payton - Bears

John Riggins - Redskins

Wide Receivers

Dwight Clark - 49ers

Roy Green - Cardinals

Offensive Line

Bill Bain - Rams 

Joe Fields - Jets 

Russ Grimm - Redskins 

Joe Jacoby - Redskins 

Henry Lawrence - Raiders 

Defensive Line

Richard Dent - Bears

Dan Hampton - Bears

Al Harris - Bears

Dave Logan - Buccaneers

Howie Long - Raiders

Steve McMichael - Bears

Jack Youngblood - Rams

Linebackers

E.J. Junior - Cardinals

Jack Reynolds - 49ers

Mike Singletary - Bears

Lawrence Taylor - Giants

Defensive Backs

Todd Bell - Bears

Lester Hayes - Raiders

Mike Haynes - Raiders

Donnie Shell - Steelers

Eric Wright - 49ers

Special Teams

Pat Summerall - Giants 

Otis Wonsley - Redskins 

And here is 1990—

Quarterbacks

Troy Aikman - Cowboys

Randall Cunningham - Eagles

Joe Montana - 49ers

Warren Moon - Oilers

Running Backs

Marcus Allen - Raiders

O.J. Anderson - Giants

Neal Anderson - Bears

Keith Byars - Eagles

Merril Hoge - Steelers

Barry Sanders - Detroit

Emmitt Smith - Cowboys

Wide Receivers

Fred Barnett - Eagles

Anthony Carter - Vikings

Gary Clark - Redskins

Ernest Givens - Oilers

Jerry Rice - 49ers

Sterling Sharpe - Packers 

Tight Ends

Keith Jackson - Eagles

Offensive Line

Stan Brock - Saints

Jumbo Elliott - Giants

Jim Lachey - Redskins

Bruce Matthews - Oilers

Don Mosebar - Raiders

Mike Munchak - Oilers

Nate Newton - Cowboys

Bubba Paris - 49ers

Jackie Slater - Rams

Steve Wisniewski - Raiders

Jeff Zimmerman - Cowboys

Defensive Line

Richard Dent - Bears

Kevin Fagan - 49ers 

Jacob Green - Seahawks

Dan Hampton - Bears

Pierce Holt - 49ers

Erik Howard - Giants

William Perry - Bears

Greg Townsend - Raiders

Reggie White - Eagles 

Linebackers

Charles Haley - 49ers

Rickey Jackson - Saints

Pepper Johnson - Giants

Vaughan Johnson - Saints

Matt Millen - 49ers

Sam Mills - Saints

Brian Noble - Packers

Pat Swilling - Saints

Lawrence Taylor - Giants

Defensive Backs

Mark Carrier - Bears

Darrell Green - Redskins

Ronnie Lott - 49ers

Rod Woodson - Steelers 

Special Teams

Sean Landeta - Giants

Dave Meggett - Giants

Reyna Thompson - Giants

And here is the final iteration of the All-Madden team, chosen in 2001

Quarterbacks

Brett Favre - Green Bay Packers

Jeff Garcia - San Francisco 49ers

Kurt Warner - St. Louis Rams

Running Backs

Marshall Faulk - St. Louis Rams

Ahman Green - Green Bay Packers

Garrison Hearst - San Francisco 49ers

Cecil Martin - Philadelphia Eagles 

Anthony Thomas - Chicago Bears

Ricky Williams - New Orleans Saints

Wide Receivers

Marty Booker - Chicago Bears

Isaac Bruce - St. Louis Rams

Marvin Harrison - Indianapolis Colts

Joe Horn - New Orleans Saints

Keyshawn Johnson - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Terrell Owens - San Francisco 49ers

Offensive Line

Larry Allen - Dallas Cowboys

Matt Birk - Minnesota Vikings

Ray Brown - San Francisco 49ers

Olin Kreutz - Chicago Bears

Bruce Matthews - Tennessee Titans

Andy McCollum - St. Louis Rams

Orlando Pace - St. Louis Rams

Jon Runyan - Philadelphia Eagles

Adam Timmerman - St. Louis Rams

Chris Villarrial - Chicago Bears 

Bob Whitfield - Atlanta Falcons 

Defensive Line

Hugh Douglas - Philadelphia Eagles

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila - Green Bay Packers

Joe Johnson - New Orleans Saints

Robert Porcher - Detroit Lions

Warren Sapp - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Michael Strahan - New York Giants

Keith Traylor - Chicago Bears 

Ted Washington - Chicago Bears

Grant Wistrom - St. Louis Rams

Bryant Young - San Francisco 49ers

Linebackers

Keith Brooking - Atlanta Falcons

London Fletcher - St. Louis Rams

Jeremiah Trotter - Philadelphia Eagles

Brian Urlacher - Chicago Bears

Defensive Backs

Mike Brown - Chicago Bears

Brian Dawkins - Philadelphia Eagles

Sammy Knight - New Orleans Saints

John Lynch - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Mike McKenzie - Green Bay Packers 

Ahmed Plummer - San Francisco 49ers

Troy Vincent - Philadelphia Eagles

Aeneas Williams - St. Louis Rams

Kicker

Martin Gramatica - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tribute to Real Heroes

New York City firefighters

Madden's teams were quirky and fun and worthy remembering. Nice job, John.