After a great ending to the 10-11 NFL season with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, its about time to look at the choices for the cover athlete for Madden 12. While the offical cover athlete won’t be named until April, its always fun to speculate.
Here is ThatSportsGamer’s top 5 choices for Madden 12 cover athlete:
Arian Foster, RB Houston Texans – In his first full season he blew the doors off the place with 1,616 yards (thats damn near a mile). He also posted the 2nd highest Opening Day rushing total with 231 yards. Sadly, the Texans went 6-10, and that is certainly not helping you get on the cover of Madden.
Philip Rivers, QB San Diego Chargers – Threw for 4,710 yards with a 101.8 QB Rating, but the Chargers went 9-7 and missed the playoffs.
Tom Brady, QB New England Patriots – Brady played out of his mind this year. He broke his own record for touchdown to interception ratio at 9:1 with 36TDs and only 4 INTs while racking up 3,900 yards. Not to mention he was an All-Pro, NFL Offensive Player of the Year, oh yeah, and the unanimous choice for regular season MVP. Sadly, the loss to the Jets prolly takes away his chance at being the cover athlete, but crazier things have happened.
Clay Mathews, LB Green Bay Packers – If EA goes defense with this years cover athlete, Mathews has got to be the leading contender. He was named to 2 Pro-Bowls to start his career, finished 2nd to Troy Polamalu for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He also forced Rashard Mendenhall to fumble while the Steelers were driving in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl.
Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers, QB Green Bay Packers – Who was that guy on the cover of Madden 09? Brett something, but he was a bum compared to Aaron Rodgers. After throwing for 3,922 yards and 28 TDs with a rating of 101.2, he didn’t slow down when he got to the playoffs. Playing 4 playoff games at the #6 Wild Card team, Rodgers threw for another 1094 yards and 9 more TDs. Last but not least he was the Super Bowl XLV MVP for throwing for 304 yards and 3 TDs. If Rodgers isn’t on the cover it will be the biggest shafting in cover athlete history.