The Madden franchise has dominated the gaming industry for better or worse over the last 2 decades. Love Madden or hate it, it’s racked up a rabid fanbase of fans who spend billions of dollars on MUT alone, meaning EA will continue to make the NFL a boatload of money and keep the license in the process.
The cover of Madden has been one of the most beloved features of the Madden product. While the actual gameplay will perpetually be lambasted (for good reason), almost everyone, including the game’s biggest haters, looks forward to and appreciates the cover athlete announcement.
The game’s marketing centers around its cover athlete, and considering that there aren’t many changes on a year-to-year basis when it comes to features and gameplay, the actual cover is one of the few things that does change. Who doesn’t love walking into a store and seeing a banner for Madden or 2K with an awesome cover illustration celebrating the previous year’s best athletes?
At this point, it seems that every legend from Ray Lewis to Barry Sanders has been the coveted Madden cover athlete. Even Tom Brady has been on the cover – twice. Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen of the new school have graced the cover now.
But there’s one recent all-time great who hasn’t been on the Madden cover. That would be Green Bay’s own Aaron Rodgers. Why is that?
Reasons Why Aaron Rodgers Hasn’t Been On The Cover Of Madden
When Aaron Rodgers first burst onto the scene in the late 2000s, EA employed a fan vote to decide who would be the Madden cover athlete. For a while, Aaron wasn’t seriously considered, but that wasn’t until Rodgers led the Packers to the 2011 Super Bowl.
The following spring, Rodgers ended up as the number 1 seed in the fan bracket. Given his 28 TDs, 11 INTs, and impressive postseason performance, it seemed like he was about to waltz right onto the Madden 12 cover. Just like the actual number one-seeded Packers the following season, Rodgers was upset – instead of the New York Giants, Rodgers was bested by the one-season wonder Peyton Hillis.
While Aaron was still a popular player over the following years, guys such as Calvin Johnson and Richard Sherman continued to win the fan vote. No one was going to beat out Odell Beckham Jr. the year after he had that one-handed catch (though Rodgers may have been the MVP that year), and Gronk was destined to be on the cover of Madden from the day he entered the league.
In recent years, EA has gone back to choosing the cover athlete via their own methods. For a few down years at the end of the McCarthy era, Rodgers wasn’t really going to be on the cover. He wasn’t even lauded enough to win the MVP in 2016, despite being an overlooked contender.
Given Aaron’s back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021, it seemed like he was destined to be on the cover again. With that being said, Aaron has entered into a new era where he challenges the status quo, and being on the cover of Madden isn’t something Rodgers would care about at all anymore.
His reputation has also soured, especially after the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco. His spiritual and medicinal views might also deter EA from wanting to have a guy like him on the cover of a game for kids/families.
Perhaps Jordan Love will be on the cover one day – maybe after they get his rating right.