EA Sports recently revealed the cover of Madden NFL 22, which features not just the Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady, but also the losing team's quarterback Patrick Mahomes. This breaks a longstanding Madden tradition.
The Madden NFL franchise has a long history when it comes to the cover of its games. The most recent tradition started when EA Sports' Madden 2001 chose to put Super Bowl winner and running back Eddie George on the cover, but now twenty years later it breaks that tradition as well as some others.
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The history of Madden covers goes back to 1988 with the title for the first two games John Madden Football, and then later integrating the years onto the titles until it eventually became just Madden NFL plus the year of the coming Super Bowl. Madden himself adorned the cover of every entry in the series up to Madden 2000. The following year, EA Sports decided to change the cover of the game to a player on the winning Super Bowl team for Madden 2001, and it has stayed that way until now.
Breaking this tradition comes as a surprise to long-time fans because the previous tradition conveyed a feeling of victory for both fans and the player featured. The cover of Madden has been viewed as a trophy over the past couple of decades, as having a physical copy that depicts the winning team can be seen as justifying a fans' loyalty. The newest cover breaks that tradition for many fans as EA Sports opts for a newer and more inclusive cover.
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Older Madden covers usually had an aesthetic that is completely different from the new one, featuring an image of the player standing up or at least playing in full pads and helmet. EA Sports changed the overall design from including the cover player in helmet, posing as if on the field, to approaching the camera without a helmet starting in Madden 18. That change for the franchise has been happening slowly.
This new cover is less than subtle with its aim for a new direction and change of aesthetic. The portrait of the players is surrounded by an off-white beige color with orange accents, giving the new cover an old polaroid look. This could be a nod to the history of Madden covers coming a long way since 1988, or it could be a change to simplify the cover for two players to fit.
Players that have been featured on Madden NFL covers over the years have coincidentally been injured the following football season. Sports news outlets are giving their regards to Brady and Mahomes, and at this point it is too early to tell if they will be injured. Not every player featured on the cover has been hurt the season following, yet the number is high enough that it has cemented itself into NFL fan traditions.
Perhaps a new theory will emerge out of this cover, in which one NFL player may be cursed and the losing player may be blessed. There will be no clear answer until the 2021-2022 season starts, and the curse is a fan theory in the first place, so there is no telling what will happen because of how physically demanding the sport is. That all aside, this is a new direction for the series that may survive the next twenty years if fans are open to the change.
Madden NFL 22 is scheduled to release on August 20, 2021, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.