I heard the only athletes left on Earth who are judged by watching them play are offensive linemen. The rest are done with ratings extrapolated from statistics.
Dude, it's 2013. Number ratings are where it is at.
You can do a lot with number ratings. Divide an overall by an expected salary and there you have a value.
17 99s could also be meaningless because it's a number derived from an algorithm. It may mean nothing to how the games are played on the field.