A Pictorial History of NFL Players on the Madden Cover

Appearing on the cover of EA Sports’ Madden video game has been an honor for many, a curse for some, and the annual announcement has become an event in itself. This year, for the first time, EA Sports let the fans choose who they want to see on the cover by way of a 32 player bracket challenge. The winner will be announced April 27th at 4pm on ESPN2’s SportsNation. The finalists are Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick and Cleveland Browns RB Peyton Hillis.

UPDATE (6/7/2011) : Hillis is this years’s Madden 12 cover boy and the new cover has been revealed. We’ve added the new Madden 12 cover to our pictorial history.

If you don’t happen to the like the Madden cover choice, here’s a tutorial that shows you how to make your own Madden cover with Photoshop.

In honor of the coming announcement of this year’s Madden cover boy, we thought we take a look at the previous Madden covers. Even though the initial release of Madden came a more than a decade earlier, no NFL players appeared on the cover until Madden 2001. John Madden himself graced the cover between 1990 and 2000.

2001

Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George was the first NFL player to appear on the Madden cover.

2002

Minnesota Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper

2003

St. Louis Rams RB Marshall Faulk

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2004

Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick

2005

Baltimore Ravens LB Ray Lewis

2006

Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb

2007

Seattle Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander

2008

Tennessee Titans QB Vince Young

2009

Brett Favre was selected for the cover when he “retired” for the first time. After un-retiring and being traded to the New York Jets, EA Sports released a new cover and made it available for download online.

 

2010

Two players shared the cover for the first time. Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald.

2011

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees

2012

Cleveland Browns RB Peyton Hillis

We now know We’ll find out whether Peyton Hillis or Michael Vick will be on the Madden 12 cover April 27th at 4pm on ESPN2. You can see ESPN’s Kenny Mayne goofing around with Hillis and Vick during a recent visit to ESPN.

Tags: Games, Madden, NFL

Category: Games, NFL