If Watson got the nod, it would be the first time someone from a losing team made the cover since Calvin Johnson in Madden NFL 13. The team also fired its coach midway through the season. Despite the quarterback's eye popping numbers, the Houston Texans posted just a 4-12 record. The first is that should Madden NFL 22 arrive with Watson on the cover, it would mark the one of the only times a player from a truly terrible team got the honor. There are a couple of strikes against Watson's candicacy. Like Allen, he's also a double threat as he ran for 444 yards. This year, he led the NFL in passing yards with 4,823 while throwing for 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. However, despite being one of the best signal callers in the game, he still hasn't graced the cover of the game.
RELATED: Madden NFL 21 Makes Its Super Bowl LV Predictionĭeshaun Watson already has a history with Madden NFL 21 as he was one of the players that made the game's virtual Pro Bowl this past season.
That installment was the first in the franchise for the Xbox One and PS4 generation of gaming.
There is also an argument for Donald being the first Xbox Series X/S and PS5 cover athlete, as Sherman made the cover for Madden NFL 15. Likely the only reason he didn't finish first is because he was routinely double-teamed by blockers and sometimes triple-teamed.
While his numbers weren't eye popping in the 2020-21 season, he still finished second in the entire league in sacks. The Los Angeles Rams star is considered one of the most dominant defensive lineman in the history of the game and easily the best of his generation. The then-Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman was the most recent of the trio.Īaron Donald could be the fourth defensive star to get the honor. Ray Lewis, Troy Polamalu (who shared the cover with Larry Fitzgerald) and Richard Sherman. In fact, since 2000, only three defensive players have made the cover of the game.
That doesn't mean that a big time defensive star has never made an appearance. Running backs and quarterbacks have been the most prevalent, with a few wide receivers mixed in. It'll be interesting to see how EA Sports builds off that momentum with this year's game.In the long history of cover athletes for the Madden NFL series, almost all of them have been offensive players. Wilson also mentioned that Madden NFL 21 had a really strong year with new records for players and engagement this uptick was no doubt driven in part by the pandemic. It was also very different for the franchise because a physical photoshoot with Jackson wasn't possible due to COVID.
The cover for Madden NFL 21 featured Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson. Other than to say, I'm really proud of the work the team has done-both with the game, with the cover, and with the marketing that we're going to build around Madden." He added: "We're going to do something a little different with the cover this year. I can tell you they have more surprises afoot." I reviewed it with the team just a few days ago. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the team at EA Sports is planning something "a little different" for the cover for Madden 22, but he wouldn't say more.Īsked directly by Bloomberg who would be on the cover for Madden 22, Wilson said, "Well, we're going to know soon enough. EA Sports will reveal Madden NFL 22 "soon enough," and the cover might not be what you expect.