Early Candidates for Madden 11 Cover

With just over a quarter of the regular season left to go there is plenty of data in to start analyzing potential candidates for the Madden 11 cover. Of course a lot can change over the course of the remainder of the season and the playoffs but as of now here are the players who stand the highest chance of receiving the honor.

1 – Drew Brees

Probably the favorite for MVP at this point Drew Brees has led the Saints to an 11-0 start. He is tops in the league in QB rating and TD passes. He has been featured in some commercials as of late including a significant one with President Obama for PLAY 60. Having Brees would allow the game to feature a fresh and generally well-liked superstar and team on the cover. At this point he seems like the no-brainer choice but being that is far from a guarantee that it will come about.

2 – Chad Ochocinco

No player in the NFL understands self-promotion and social media better than Chad Ochocinco. If he was made the cover athlete for Madden imagine how much extra attention he would provide the game. Just the other day he had a Motorola phone trending on Twitter because of a single message he sent out. Madden 10 at no point was a trending topic of Twitter. He puts himself out there and stays relevant but now in a way that fans find entertaining. He has been on the cover of NFL Street 3 so he has a relationship with EA Sports. His stats may be the least impressive of this group of players but with the success of the Bengals this year and his strengths in the marketing arena Ochocinco cannot be discounted as a strong possibility.

3 – Adrian Peterson

Running backs generally have a relatively short lifespan of dominance in the NFL. EA has passed over Adrian Peterson for the last two covers despite his performance warranting discussion as one of the most likely to get it. He seems like an ideal player for the cover considering his stature in the league and the success the Vikings are having this season. One concern though is having been slightly overshadowed by what Brett Favre has been able to do this season.

4 – Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is quite possibly the most explosive and exciting player in the NFL. He has a legit chance to break the single season rushing record and averages an astonishing 6.4 yards per carry. With the Titans turnaround if they end up making the playoffs he’ll be right there in the talk as the possible MVP. The drawbacks to Johnson are that he would not make for an ideal spokesperson and EA may not want to have Titans on the cover of two of the last four Madden games with Vince Young having been on 08.

Also considered: Peyton Manning, Maurice Jones-Drew, Philip Rivers, Patrick Willis, Andre Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, Jared Allen.