The latest NFL star to grace the cover of the “Madden NFL” franchise will be revealed this week. But some fans believe they’ve already cracked the code by reading into EA Sports’ recent teaser video.
The 11-second clip only depicts a camera crew, which is shown capturing footage of what is presumably the off-screen cover athlete. But a few stylistic choices of the presentation stand out: Audio of a quarterback’s snap cadence — “Ready! Set! Hut!” — can be heard early in the clip, and every logo or text that appears on-screen, including the EA Sports icon and cover-reveal date, takes a turn flashing orange.
The glow of the light in the camera crew’s apparent studio also has an orange tint, prompting dozens of fans on social media to predict this year’s featured cover man: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow hasn’t fueled the fire with any comment of his own, but plenty of Cincinnati-area outlets have shared the rumor, including the unofficial Joe Burrow Fan Club on X, boasting more than 11,000 followers.
As resident Bengals expert and CBS Sports analyst John Breech notes, a hot theory circulating among Bengals faithful regarding Burrow’s cover chances is that the quarterback’s recent absence from a spring practice was not due to scheduled rest but rather a scheduled photo shoot. Other theories have downplayed the chances of Burrow making the cover by correctly noting that an allegedly leaked cover photo actually belongs to a 2022 Sports Illustrated photo shoot involving the quarterback.
A year after fellow AFC quarterback (the Bills‘ Josh Allen) headlined the 2024 edition of the annual NFL video game, Burrow would make for an interesting choice, if he ends up as the 2025 headliner, primarily because the former MVP candidate played just 10 games last season due to injury. Returning from a wrist issue this offseason, Burrow has been one of the league’s top pocket passers when healthy, throwing more than 30 touchdowns and guiding the Bengals to AFC Championship appearances in both 2021 and 2022.
