Earlier tonight on the 6pm edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter, EA and ESPN officially unveiled the Madden NFL 17 cover featuring the runner-up of last year’s Madden Cover Vote, New England Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski.
Gronkowski, the first tight end and Patriots player to grace the cover of Madden since the introduction of player covers in 1999, was simply happy to be selected to represent EA Sports Madden NFL 17 as its cover athlete.
My rookie year [in 2010], it was just an honor to be in the game, just using yourself as a player, throwing yourself the ball every single time you can at home, just playing the game…now it’s a dream come true, going into my seventh season and being on the cover. When I first found out, I was blessed. It was a surreal moment.
Gronkowski’s selection as Madden NFL 17’s cover athlete comes as no true surprise, as he was a Top 15 receiver during the 2015 regular season, as well as Top 3 during the postseason, helping lead the New England Patriots to their 4th Super Bowl ring in the Tom Brady era.
EA also premiered a first look trailer starring Gronk, featuring it’s new ground game mechanic:
Madden NFL 17 comes to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One home entertainment systems on August 23, 2016. Xbox One players can play the game 5 days early via the Play First Trial in EA Access.
