With the NFL draft over, that means football season is almost upon us. As training camps look to open, EA Sports has revealed this year's cover athlete for Madden NFL 17 - Patriots' TE Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski. Gronk is the first tight end and fist Patriots player to ever grace the cover of the popular football video game. The cover also breaks the selection method of fan voting, which was used to determine the cover athlete for the last five years.
The true question now is whether Gronk can shrug off the Madden Curse, the superstitious belief that whatever athlete graces the cover of the game will have a down year, statistically. Past Madden cover athletes Marshall Faulk, Daunte Culpepper, Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb, Shaun Alexander, and Vince Young all suffered season ending injuries during the year they graced the cover. Famed NFL player, coach and analysts John Madden graced the cover of the video game from 1988-1998. The player to boast the best statistical season during a cover year was the Detroit Lions' Calvin Johnson, who broke the NFL single season record for receiving yards in 2013.
Take your team all the way in Madden NFL 17 and put yourself at the center of your team’s Championship run in the deepest Franchise mode to-date.