Madden NFL 21 Covers and Release Date Revealed

Tuesday morning has brought joy to Madden players around the world, as the popular EA Sports franchise has just unveiled a ton of details about its next installment, Madden NFL 21. We've known that Baltifmore Ravens quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson would be on the cover of Madden 21, Tuesday morning's wave of announcements made things official, showing off all three covers for the game. Additionally, EA revealed that Madden NFL 21 will be released on August 28th, though anyone who buys the MVP Edition of the game will be able to play three days earlier, on August 25th.

Jackson is featured on all three covers of the game, which isn't surprising given that he's the year's cover athlete. What is a bit surprising, however, is the style of these covers. Unlike in year's past, when the Madden covers have simply featured a player on a brightly-colored background, this installment went in a totally different direction. All three covers are collages featuring Jackson as the centerpiece. The MVP Edition is the simplest of the bunch, showing Jackson front and center in black and white.

Below, you'll find the covers for Madden NFL 21 Standard, Deluxe, and MVP editions.

"I grew up playing Madden and owned every copy I could get my hands on, so to be on the cover of Madden NFL 21 is a dream come true, especially when the cover represents so much of my story," said Jackson. "The welcome to the Madden family from around the league and from fans has been phenomenal and I think people will have a lot of fun with the new features coming in this year's game."

After leading the Ravens to the best record in the NFL regular season, and setting several QB rushing records in the process, there was very little doubt that Lamar Jackson would be named the cover athlete for Madden 21. It was the MVP's job to lose, really. However, Jackson accidentally let the news slip way back in April, long before EA was able to make the official reveal.

"Yeah, they talked to me. I should be on the cover of Madden," Jackson told CBS. He went on to explain that we wasn't worried about the infamous Madden Curse that fans like to bring up. "Like I said, I'm not worried about a curse. Patrick Mahomes was on the front, he won MVP, so I will avoid that curse"

What do you think of the new Madden covers? Let us know in the comments!