Deion Sanders nominates himself to be on Madden 24 cover
Picking a cover athlete for the EA Sports Madden video game franchise is, annually, a fraught decision — save for last year when the namesake graced the cover. But Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has a pick for who to grace the cover of Madden 24: Himself.
In a video he posted to Twitter recently, the former NFL and Florida State cornerback makes his case. And while he has been front of mind for countless football fans since taking the Colorado job, Sanders still seems like a long shot for the spot.
“Who should be on the Madden cover this year? Me. Why not? Why not? What’s the problem? What’s the problem? What is the damn problem? Ain’t none,” Sanders said.
Sanders was seemingly teasing out the cover for Madden, with the game and EA Sports both getting hash-tagged on his post and the hyping of the Wednesday reveal.
Sanders, who was an electrifying presence as a defender and kick returner in the NFL and in college, would certainly have been a justifiable choice to grace a Madden cover — or NCAA football video game cover — during his playing days.
But Sanders, now inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, retired after the 2000 season (he’d come back and play two years with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004-05). The following year, the game shifted from placing John Madden himself on the cover to star players. In 2001, Eddie George became the first NFL player to be on the cover of Madden.
And since then, only two defensive backs have made the cover: Troy Polamalu (along with Larry Fitzgerald) on Madden 10 and Richard Sherman on Madden 15.
If it’s not to be him, Sanders did rattle off a handful of NFL players who he does think would be worthy cover athletes. Surprisingly, he named a pair of defenders on his list: Nick Bosa, TJ Watt, Jalen Hurts and Tyreek Hill.
“But if you want to be technical about it, it’s gotta be somebody that’s exciting, interesting, breathtaking — one play, I mean the kind of player that’ll have you on the edge of your seats, you know. That you can’t wait to see what they’re going to do. Tyreek Hill! I like that Cheetah, man. That Cheetah ain’t no joke. Lemme see, lemme see. Jalen Hurts. I don’t know who else. Bosa? Yeah. Watt? One of the Watt brothers, there’s only one playing now. One of the Watt brothers, they’re very dominant. That’s about it,” Sanders said.
Kansas City Chiefs fans will surely clamor for Patrick Mahomes, but the star quarterback has been on the cover of the game twice in the past five years. EA Sports could just pick from the litter of the rest of the AFC quarterbacks — Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson — and still land on a good candidate.
Given the array of options and the almost guarantee to leave one (or several) fanbases annoyed, Sanders proposes himself as a fitting alternative.
“But I mean, just to be sure, me,” Sanders said.