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Here's a cool one from today:
Former 5th round pick, 171st overall, from the 2007 NFL Draft (remember that one?), offensive lineman Clint Oldenburg didn't find much success on the NFL field. He was a converted tight end in college at Colorado State and eventually started 34 games in college.
Like many of the 2007 draft picks, the Patriots just didn't have a spot for him on the roster and released him before the season began. Oldenburg bounced after the NFL, signing with five teams in four years, before spending a season in the UFL with the league champion Virginia Destroyers.
Oldenburg moved on to the CFL, but received an internship offer with EA Sports to work on Madden 2013 and NCAA 2014. According to Kotaku and EA Sports' Larry Richert, Oldenburg's had a large part in the AI:
We had him go through every single defensive front and every single run in every playbook in the game, and set which scenario the offensive lineman should be targeting.
The goal is for the linemen in the video games to not just try and block the defender in front of them, but actually follow through with their assignments as a real lineman would.
I thought this was neat and worth sharing.