Chris Berman looks back at the illustrious football career of John Madden as a coach, commentator and pioneer of the Madden NFL video game. There is a time and a place for it.
John Madden will be on the cover of Madden NFL 23.
Madden will be on the cover of all three editions of the game, which will be released in August. Madden will be the focal point of the cover, which has trended toward using current athletes, for the first time in over two decades.
Seann Graddy, the executive producer of Madden NFL, said that they were thinking about this year's game and who was going to go on it.
Madden was the main cover person for the 2000 edition of the game. He appeared in a small box with his signature and the All Madden logo on the side of the main cover athlete in the next four editions of the game before he disappeared from the cover of Madden NFL 06.
Each year, the company used current athletes for the cover. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes shared it last year.
Graddy told ESPN that putting Madden on the cover has been discussed only for this year's game, but said that "Anything is possible, to be honest, about putting the former coach on the cover in the future."
The original John Madden Football was released on June 1, 1988 and is reminiscent of the All Madden cover. The cover had a young, sandy-haired Madden holding a football and making a hole through a diagram of X's and O's on a chalkboard with the game's name across the top of the box.
The cover of the All Madden edition has a young Madden holding a football in front of a full paper. The side of the cover has a thank you on it.
The cover for the All Madden edition was designed by Chuck Styles, a Philadelphia-based artist who has created exclusive trading cards for Topps in its Project 70 release as well as many works depicting NBA players.
The other two covers look at Madden as a coach and a broadcaster. Madden is wearing a blue shirt and tie and drawing on a telestrator on the broadcasting cover. Madden, who coached the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, was lifted up by his players after the Super Bowl win.
Graddy said that the thing that they wanted everyone to take away was that they were celebrating all three phases of Madden's legacy.
Madden demanded that the game be 11-on-11 from the beginning and gave the game developers the ability to create more realism. The influence on players grew as the game grew. Detroit Lions defensive back Jeff Okudah said in 2020 that he learned football by playing Madden, and that was always a prideful point for the game's namesake.
Madden said that it gave him the satisfaction that he was doing something worthwhile.
It helps them become better players. I think that is true of high school, college and the pros. When someone brings it up, there is a real satisfaction.
Graddy said the opening experience will have two versions of Madden from the 1970s coaching against each other, one leading anNFC All Madden team and the other anAFC All Madden team.
Graddy said it was a fun fantasy experience where it was Coach Madden vs. Coach Madden.
The thought of why we wanted Coach vs. Coach is we want Coach to win.
Graddy said there will be lines spoken by Madden during the commentary about some of the players on the All Madden rosters.
College Track, Girls Who Code, StreetCode Academy and Mission Bit will each get a portion of the $5 million donation to the John Madden Legacy Commitment to Education. The United Negro College Fund and the EA Madden Scholarship will work together to provide scholarships for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
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