Lamar Jackson being the Madden 21 cover athlete isn’t breaking news, as the reigning NFL MVP let that information slip in a video for the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year, but until Tuesday we had not gotten much official information about the upcoming EA release.
That changed when EA dropped a Madden 21 trailer (for the current generation of consoles, so Xbox One and PS4), showing off Jackson on the cover as well as some of the gameplay updates for this year — touting improved control of ball carriers and pass rushers, more realistic tackling (which, seems to be touted most years), and user-controlled celebrations.
Go all out in #Madden21
Pre-order now
https://t.co/2eaUgOqGk7 pic.twitter.com/jtUM1zNJ8i
— Madden NFL 21 (@EAMaddenNFL) June 16, 2020
The trailer shows the MVP Edition cover, which is available for presale and fans who do purchase early will get to play three days before the wide release on August 25. Jackson offered a look at the three different covers he will grace, with the MVP Edition, Deluxe Edition, and standard game.
From South Florida to the Cover of #Madden21, a dream come true
@eamaddennfl #Madden21 #EAathlete #Noyaboy #Freeyak pic.twitter.com/aK1Jw6huuk— Lamar Jackson (@Lj_era8) June 16, 2020
A number of former Madden cover athletes, including Patrick Mahomes, Michael Vick, and Barry Sanders, offered Jackson a video message welcoming him to the elite group.
Past Madden cover stars officially welcome Lamar to the club
@EAMaddenNFL @Lj_era8 @Ravens @PatrickMahomes @MichaelVick @terrellowens @EddieGeorge2727 @BarrySanders pic.twitter.com/7GvLlFoNhs
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) June 16, 2020
Jackson will hope to follow Mahomes in shaking off the reputation of the Madden Curse, as Mahomes went on to win the Super Bowl last year and Lamar’s Ravens have their eyes set on a similar finish to their 2020 season.