Madden 21 cover, featuring Lamar Jackson, is unveiled

[Poe the Raven]

Having emerged from an encounter with a jet ski without injury, Lamar Jackson should have no concern about the Madden curse. It doesn’t hurt that last year’s cover athlete, Patrick Mahomes, became the Super Bowl MVP.

EA Sports has unveiled the Madden 21 cover, featuring the 2019 regular-season MVP. The new edition of Madden launches on August 28.

“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,” Jackson said in a statement released by EA Sports. “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.”

Plenty of you will complain that this year’s version will be the same as last year’s, with updated rosters. I play Madden for an hour every day while riding an exercise bike (it’s the only way I can get through the workout), and it definitely improves each year. And it definitely is a realistic simulation of football strategy, decision-making, roster construction, etc.

It’s also fun to play. They’re not paying me to say it. Maybe I’ll get a free copy of the game this year, maybe I won’t. Maybe they’ll give us some codes for free digital copies of the game PFT readers. Maybe they won’t. Regardless, I look forward to the one hour every day that I spend on the exercise bike, and without the ability to play Madden while on the exercise bike, there’s no way I’d think that. And there’s no way I’d convince myself to spend an hour a day on the bike.

So at a time when we all would benefit from getting in better shape, consider getting a stationary bike and Madden 21 and devoting an hour a day to doing both at the same time.