Is there a higher honor for any NFL player than being named the “Madden” cover athlete? On the surface, it seems like a silly question. Surely any player would prefer winning a Super Bowl or being the league MVP, right?
Even if that’s the case, there’s an argument to be made that players are remembered more for their “Madden” covers than their on-field accomplishments. After “Madden 26” is released in August, will more people know the cover athlete or who won the MVP award last season?
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Saquon Barkley was announced as the cover athlete for “Madden 26” on Monday. Barkley will be featured on the box art, hurdling a defender as an homage to his mind-blowing backward hurdle over a Jacksonville Jaguars defender during the 2025 NFL season.
But where does the iconic cover image of Barkley rank compared to other “Madden” covers? Follow along as Yahoo Sports ranks the best covers in the history of the “Madden” franchise.
26. Brett Favre, “Madden 09”
25. Vince Young, “Madden 08”
24. Dante Culpepper, “Madden 2002”
23. Drew Brees, “Madden 11”
22. Tom Brady, “Madden 18”
21. Donovan McNabb, “Madden 06”
The above grouping mostly falls into the “Quarterback doing generic throwing pose” bucket. Culpepper, Young and Favre’s covers are fairly indistinguishable from one another. Brees’ cover features a similar pose, but the box art is more stylized, with a graphic of Saints fans and Brees celebrating in the background. Brady’s “Madden 18” cover features the legendary quarterback yelling. It breaks from tradition slightly, elevating it over the throwing poses of “Madden” past.
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The one exception to that is McNabb’s cover. Though he’s also featured in a generic throwing pose, that was slightly more apropos that year, as “Madden 06” introduced the controversial vision-cone feature. Each quarterback’s vision was displayed on screen by a triangular cone. Players had to move that cone with a joystick to find a receiver if they wanted to throw an accurate pass. If you played as a tremendous quarterback — like Peyton Manning — you didn’t have to do much, as his field vision was elite. If you played as Rex Grossman, you were a masochist.
20. Shaun Alexander, “Madden 07”
19. Richard Sherman, “Madden 15”
18. Ray Lewis, “Madden 2005”
17. Calvin Johnson, “Madden 13”
Alexander’s cover can be classified as “generic running back pose.” And while “Madden” went to that well a few times over the franchise’s existence, Alexander’s is the least notable of that bunch.
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The two defenders to grace the “Madden” cover are next. While Sherman’s cover tried to capture the defender in an action pose, Lewis’ gets the nod for making history. It also looked intimidating, giving the general public a glance at what most running backs saw when they tried to find a hole in the Baltimore Ravens’ defense in the 2000s.
Johnson’s cover marked the first time the franchise tried to do an action pose on the cover. “Madden 13” features Johnson with his hands out, ready to receive a pass. It’s a neat idea, but one in which the franchise would improve upon in later years.
16. Patrick Mahomes, “Madden 20”
15. Josh Allen, “Madden 24”
14. Antonio Brown, “Madden 19”
Mahomes and Allen each have covers featuring the quarterbacks doing different poses. Mahomes is flexing on his box art while Allen is a more dramatic photo, in which he’s looking down while grabbing his shoulder pads at his neck.
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If you can ignore everything that happened with Brown after he was announced as the “Madden 19” cover athlete, it’s a pretty strong cover. It also marked the first time in the game’s history that it featured a cover athlete’s team colors on the box art instead of a generic background. It made for a nice visual paired with an excited Brown wearing the Steelers’ black and yellow.
13. Christian McCaffrey, “Madden 25” (the 2025 edition)
12. Marshall Faulk, “Madden 2003”
11. Eddie George, “Madden 2001”
10. Peyton Hillis, “Madden 12”
We’ve reached the running back portion of the covers. While McCaffrey’s is the most unique with its photo — in which McCaffrey is flexing his arms during a celebration — Faulk and George rank higher due to their iconic status. George was the first active NFL player to be featured on the “Madden” cover. He set the standard for every other player on his list. Faulk has the distinction of gracing the cover of what many consider to be the greatest “Madden” game in the franchise. “Madden 2003” has a 95 on Metacritic, making it the most well-reviewed game in the franchise’s history.
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And then there’s the Hillis cover. The least accomplished player to grace the cover of “Madden,” Hillis never made a Pro Bowl during his career. So, how did he end up on the cover of one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time? Fans voted for him … no, really. EA Sports decided to do a bracket-style vote to determine the next “Madden” cover athlete. Instead of going with Aaron Rodgers or Matt Ryan, fans came together to support Hillis, likely due to him being the most random player in the bracket.
In Hillis’ defense, he was coming off his best season in the NFL, in which he rushed for 1,177 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. Still, he was far less established than any other player he beat in the voting, which is probably why EA Sports has been hesitant to let fans choose the “Madden” cover athlete again. Maybe that’s a bad move by the company, as Hillis’ cover remains one of the most memorable in the franchise’s history.
9. Rob Gronkowski, “Madden 17”
8. Odell Beckham, “Madden 16”
“Madden” went all in on iconic moments in back-to-back years. “Madden 17” featured Gronkowski doing his signature spike celebration. “Madden 16” featured Odell Beckham Jr. pulling off an incredible, one-handed catch, a clear riff on the play that made him a household name. Both covers are tremendous, though, “Madden” would do the same idea even better later on.
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7. Barry Sanders/Adrian Peterson, “Madden 25” (2014 edition)
6. Lamar Jackson, “Madden 21”
5. Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald, “Madden 10”
You’ll note there are two “Madden 25” games on the list. That’s because “Madden” celebrated its 25th year of existence in 2014. Instead of releasing “Madden 14,” the franchise went with “Madden 25” to celebrate the history of the franchise. There was no better choice for the cover than Sanders, who beat out Peterson in a fan vote featuring current and legendary players. Sanders appeared on the cover of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Peterson did get his own cover, and was featured on the PS4 and Xbox One editions.
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EA Sports put out multiple versions of Jackson’s cover. The MVP edition version, which features a black and white picture of Jackson with his helmet sitting on top of his head, is a simple cover, but it’s effective. It could double as an album cover if Jackson ever decides he wants to get into music.
Putting Polamalu and Fitzgerald on the same cover was an inspired move. Both men had recently played against each other in the Super Bowl and the cover served as a celebration of the previous NFL season and that game, which came down to the final seconds.
4. Every single cover featuring John Madden
There would be no “Madden” without John Madden. The former coach turned broadcaster brought legitimacy to the franchise before it even got its feet off the ground. Madden’s insistence that the game feature 11 players on both sides of the ball led to struggles early, as console memory couldn’t handle that much action. But it paid off in the end, and the “Madden” franchise quickly became regarded as the most accurate football simulation around.
All told, Madden has appeared on the cover 12 times. He graced the “Madden” cover the first 11 years of its existence. The franchise put Madden back on the cover for “Madden 23” as a way to honor the NFL legend following his death.
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3. Michael Vick, “Madden 04”
Sure, it’s another “generic quarterback pose,” but anyone who played “Madden 04” will tell you the video-game version of Vick revolutionized the game. In an era where few quarterbacks were explosive runners, Vick played exactly the way you would think in a video game. He could destroy opposing teams on the ground or uncork 60+ yard jump balls to Brian Finneran, whose side made him an offensive force.
Vick’s prowess as a dual-threat certainly shaped the future of the quarterback position in the NFL. That ability was felt even more so in “Madden 04,” where playing with Vick felt like you were cheating.
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2. Saquon Barkley, “Madden 26”
Maybe it’s recency bias, but Barkley’s cover really stands out. His backward hurdle will be cited long after his playing career is done. People will point to it as one of the craziest plays in NFL history, and use it as an example to explain why Barkley was a Hall of Fame talent.
Iconic action poses make for great “Madden” covers, and EA Sports found a way to build on Gronkowski’s spike and Beckham’s catch by quickly turning around a cover that highlights the play of the 2025 NFL season.
1. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, “Madden 22”
The best quarterback of all time and the best quarterback of the current era. It doesn’t get much better than that. The cover was released just months after the two faced off in the Super Bowl, which saw Brady pick up his seventh ring.
“Madden” hasn’t used dual cover athletes often, but both times the game has done it, the covers have been tremendous. The fact that “Madden 22” not only highlights the previous season’s Super Bowl teams but also the greatest quarterbacks of their respective eras is a fantastic touch — one that guarantees the cover image will last long past Mahomes’ playing career.
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