Madden covers through the years has 22 different athletes with Tom Brady appearing twice. John Madden was on the first Madden cover.
Since the video game first launched in 1988, the game cover has seen many faces as the cover face, and not everybody earns the chance to be featured.
John Madden has been featured the most number of times on the cover as the game is based on him and only in 2001 did a player appear on the cover of the video game. Eddie George appeared in 2001 followed by Daunte Culpepper in 2002.
Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes II graced the video game cover in 2022.
Who Was On The First Madden Cover
The first player to feature on the Madden cover was John Madden himself. EA Sports has the official license to make and distribute the game.
The realistic game is named after John Madden who has been a huge name in the game as he has recorded 103 wins in total (regular season) as a head coach for the Oakland Raiders and won the Super Bowl XI.
Although John was not the first choice but third for the game to be based on as Trip Hawkins (founder of EA), as he wanted to sign Joe Montana and Joe Kapp.
Who Is The Madden 22 Cover Athlete
The Madden 22 cover athlete is Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes II of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs respectively.
Tom Brady is regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks to have ever graced the sport and is one of the most famous personalities in the football world. Brady previously featured on the cover in 2018 when he was still with the New England Patriots.
The Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes II has also previously featured in the 2020 edition of Madden and also broke the Madden curse that year by winning the Super Bowl and being adjudged as the Super Bowl MVP.
The quarterbacks from two different generations had been brought together for this edition. Although rivals in the field, both the quarterbacks had good things to say about each other during the shoot with both nursing from injuries.
Madden 23 Cover Athletes
Cover athlete Madden 23 will feature John Madden again after a gap of 23 years. The legendary coach and commentator will once again feature on the cover of the video game.
History of Madden Covers
The history of Madden covers began in the year 1988 with John Madden featured as the first face of the cover. It was obvious as the game was actually named after and has featured the most number of times on the cover.
The game debuted in 1988 and has since featured the Hall of Famers John Madden on its cover till 2000 either as a solo or with some other players in the background.
Eddie George in 2001 was the first time a player had been featured on the cover of the game and marked the beginning of featuring players as the cover.
- 2001 – Eddie George
- 2002 – Daunte Culpepper
- 2003 – Marshall Faulk
- 2004 – Michael Vick
- 2005 – Ray Lewis
- 2006 – Donovan McNabb
- 2007 – Shaun Alexander
- 2008 – Vince Young
- 2009 – Brett Favre
- 2010 – Troy Polamalu / Larry Fitzgerald
- 2011 – Drew Brees
- 2012 – Peyton Hillis
- 2013 – Calvin Johnson
Madden Covers Last 10 Years
NFL Madden covers from the last 10 years have included greats like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, John Madden, and more. The last 10 editions of Madden:
- Madden 25 (2014) – Adrian Peterson (Xbox One and PS4) and Barry Sanders (Xbox 360 and PS3)
- Madden 15 (2015) – Richard Sherman
- Madden 16 (2016) – Odell Beckham Jr.
- Madden 17 (2017) – Ron Gronkowski
- Madeen 18 (2018) – Tom Brady
- Madden 19 (2019) – Antonio Brown (Terrell Owens featured in the Hall of Fame edition).
- Madden 20 (2020) – Patrick Mahomes
- Madden 21 (2021) – Lamar Jackson
- Madden 22 (2022) – Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes
- Madden 23 (2023) – John Madden
How Many Madden Covers Is Tom Brady On
Tom Brady has been featured on the cover of the video game in two editions i.e. 2018 and 2022. The 2018 cover featured Tom Brady while he was still representing the New England Patriots.
The legendary quarterback with a record seven Super Bowl Championship rings is amongst the most famous personalities in the game and had to been featured on the cover more than once.
In 2022, Tom Brady while representing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shared the cover with fellow adversary quarterback Patrick Mahomes II of the Kansas City Chiefs.
How Many John Madden Games Are There
There are a total of 4 John Madden games based on his name and 34 games in total beginning since 1988 and the latest in 2023.
The game series is developed by EA Tiburon (the development studio of EA Sports) and has a license agreement with the NFL that allows them to make and distribute the life-like game based on real NFL players.
John Madden has been instrumental in the success of the game he participated in the game’s development which increased with time after he retired from broadcasting commentary.
The game has been very well received by the fans and EA Sports has sold millions of copies of the video game.
How Many Madden Games Have Been Sold
The Madden franchise has sold more than 130 million copies worldwide and is only behind the most successful sports video game ‘FIFA’.
Madden has been one of the important video game series with a lot of hype and popularity worldwide, especially in the US, as it is the most popular sport in the country.
The journey to generate such great sales numbers was not smooth and required a lot of hard work and revision of games to gain such popularity.
How Much Has Madden Made From Video Game
Madden being the second most successful video game series after ‘FIFA’ has made $4 billion (estimated) in sales and makes $600 million annually.
The video game would not have been so successful if it wasn’t for John Madden himself because EA Sports had first planned the game to be in a 7v7 format.
John was not on board with the plan and did not give them the authority to use his name unless it was real football with a 11v11 format.