Who Should Be on the Madden 18 Team Cover?
Los Angeles Chargers: Joey Bosa — DE
The Chargers are heading to Los Angeles and they will be playing in the Stub Hub Center for two seasons. It’s going to be the smallest venue of any NFL team as the stadium holds just 27,000 people. The good news is, the scaled-down center will allow every fan in attendance to get a more up-close view of the team.
Hopefully for the Chargers this will help because they are a year late to Los Angeles since the Rams moved there last season. They also struggled to win over Southern California during the two decades the Rams were gone.
Another thing that may help endear them to fans is the fact that they are finally getting some good young talent. In 2015 they selected running back Melvin Gordon out of Wisconsin and he had a great sophomore campaign after a so-so rookie season. This season they got a guy who made a bigger impact and did so in year one.
Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa went third overall to the Chargers and looked like he could be a long term holdout. After much debate and back-and-forth he signed his deal and missed four games, but was still able to record double-digit sacks with 10.5. His great performance led to him being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. It would also lead him to being on the cover of Madden if they had to choose one person from the newest L.A. franchise.
Los Angeles Rams: Aaron Donald — DT
Let’s keep getting defensive in Los Angeles. Obviously after one season back in California, the Rams would have preferred to see their first-overall selection Jared Goff here. That’s not going to happen because the quarterback out of Cal who was compared to Aaron Rodgers struggled to even outplay Case Keenum at the position. He started seven games and had more interceptions than touchdowns as the team lost every game he started in
Maybe Goff will turn it around now that the perpetually losing, but for some reason usually employed head coach Jeff Fisher is gone. Replacing him is the youngest coach in the league Sean McVay. Famous for his work with quarterback Kirk Cousins, McVay may be able help Goff reach his potential. Until that time comes though, the Rams need another nominee and that would be defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
The 25-year-old Donald has been a nightmare for opposing offensive lines since entering the league. As a rookie he started 12-of-16 games played and recorded nine sacks. He was named the 2014 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year but performed even better in year two when he had 11 sacks. In 2016 he recorded eight more and is one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL.
Miami Dolphins: Jay Ajayi — RB
Head coach Adam Gase nearly ruined the Miami Dolphins season. After they let running back Lamar Miller leave for the Houston Texans via free agency it appeared that second-year player Jay Ajayi would slide into his role. He was a fifth-round pick but had a sensationally productive career at Boise State and fell due to knee injury concerns. It seemed Ajayi would be healthy and ready to explode out of the gates.
That isn’t what happened, though. Instead, the Dolphins went for an older running back with more injury issues in Arian Foster, recently cut by the same Houston team that picked up Miller. Foster was coming off several plagued seasons and averaged just 2.6 yards per game in the four games he did play in during the 2015 year. For Miami the results were almost identical as he again played in just four games and averaged 2.5 yards per rush.
Injuries forced him to retire and again Gase bypassed Ajayi, this time in favor of rookie Kenyan Drake. The Alabama product was never a starter in college and, despite having a good role as a rotational guy, should have always been behind Ajayi.
Finally after awhile Ajayi got his shot. He burst onto the scene rushing for 204 yards against the Steelers for the hapless Dolphins and the team came to life. He had another 200-yard game the following week and one more before the year ended. Despite starting just 12 games Ajayi managed to land fourth in the league in rushing and could have been the champ had he started 16 games. At least he gets the love here and that’s what really matters.
Minnesota Vikings: Xavier Rhodes — CB
The Minnesota Vikings are a pretty tough team. They win with hard nosed defense. Their head coach, Mike Zimmer, should be credited as he is a defensive guy and he even showed his toughness when returning to coaching promptly after having emergency retina surgery.
Zimmer sets the tone for this team and they have some real studs as well. On the defensive line they have Brian Robison and Everson Griffen as the ends with Danielle Hunter playing the part of the rotational edge rusher. They also have great linebackers like Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks as well as stellar safety Harrison Smith.
Even with all those stars, one guy stood out as the best on their defense, cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney — DE
No one would have thought anybody besides defensive end J.J. Watt could make this list, but here we are. 2014 first-overall pick Jadeveon Clowney is the choice for the Houston Texans to cover Madden, and it’s well deserved. Of course, one caveat is that this only happened following the 2016 season because Watt was injured and spent most of the year on IR following back surgery.
Clowney stepped up in the absence of Watt and helped the Texans lead the league in fewest yards surrendered. He was day in and day out the toughest guy to block on the Texans roster and the attention he drew really helped free up rushers like outside linebacker John Simon and Whitney Mercilus. Clowney also showed some versatility as the Texans moved him from outside linebacker to end in their 3-4 scheme and he did incredibly well.
While his sack total didn’t show his effort, Clowney deserves a ton of praise for his development. He finished the season by recording a sack in each of the final three games and kept that momentum going after the regular season. In the team’s playoff win against the Oakland Raiders Clowney deflected two passes at the line of scrimmage. The first he nearly picked off and the second one he did.
Should they be able to get Watt healthy and keep Clowney on the field as well in 2017, this defense will only be more dominant.
Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck — QB
The Indianapolis Colts had a tough choice to make following the 2011 NFL season. The best quarterback they ever had, Peyton Manning, spent the whole season on IR after several neck surgeries. They were a mess without him as they won just two games that season. The poor record led to them obtaining the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was the consensus number one pick and considered a once in a decade kind of talent. The Colts faced the problem head on and cut Manning, which had to be a hard decision. They felt confident enough that Luck would be a great player to make that tough choice and so far it has paid off.
Manning went off and won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, which made it a good move for him as well. For the Colts though, they have gone 43-27 with Luck starting. The talented young passer has thrown for 19,078 yards with 132 touchdown passes. He’s still going strong a full season after Manning retired and still has several years left to excel in the league.
While the last two seasons haven’t gone the way the team likes, the future is still bright for Luck and he’s the best player on the team by far.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Allen Robinson — WR
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been picking in the top 10 in the NFL Draft for what feels like an eternity. With all their premium selections they should be a great team by now, but despite being dark horse favorites for several seasons they keep losing game after game. While not every player has lived up to their expectations, one player has gone above his.
That would be Allen Robinson, one of two wide receivers the team selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. The Penn State product had a slow rookie season, but showed a lot of promise during the year. The following season Robinson broke out. He had 80 receptions for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns that year while having a knack for making contested catches.
As a whole the Jaguars offense struggled in 2016, and while Robinson didn’t repeat the success he had during the previous campaign he was still an excitable player. He also is arguably the most talented player on their offense. Of course, after winning just three games and losing 13 Jacksonville most likely won’t be getting any calls about being on Madden, but if they did it seems like the best choice would be Robinson.
Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Berry — FS
This one was tough. The Kansas City Chiefs have several talented players like quarterback Alex Smith, but he isn’t really held in that high of esteem because he is generally considered a game manager. There there’s wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who is incredibly balanced, although unspectacular.
From there we look at tight end Travis Kelce, who is one of the best at his position and would be incredibly worthy of being the cover guy. So too would nose tackle Dontari Poe, simply because he is a run stuffing beast and is the orchestrator of the “Bloated Tebow” which may be the greatest trick play ever.
Besides these guys listed, the Chiefs have one other player who would be the selection if the only criteria was on-field performance. Rookie receiver/return man Tyreek Hill was the most explosive player on the Chiefs offense and by season’s end he was the main reason they moved the ball on offense. However, his off-field domestic violence against a then-pregnant girlfriend in college makes him untouchable by the good people at EA Sports.
So instead they go with the feel good story of safety Eric Berry. He returned to the game in 2015 after a cancer diagnosis the previous year and by 2016 he was his former dominate self again. He had 77 tackles while also intercepting four passes. Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns as Berry showed his explosive speed was back after all his missed time. Hopefully they’re smart enough to keep him moving forward as he enters free agency.
The Chargers are heading to Los Angeles and they will be playing in the Stub Hub Center for two seasons. It’s going to be the smallest venue of any NFL team as the stadium holds just 27,000 people. The good news is, the scaled-down center will allow every fan in attendance to get a more up-close view of the team.
Hopefully for the Chargers this will help because they are a year late to Los Angeles since the Rams moved there last season. They also struggled to win over Southern California during the two decades the Rams were gone.
Another thing that may help endear them to fans is the fact that they are finally getting some good young talent. In 2015 they selected running back Melvin Gordon out of Wisconsin and he had a great sophomore campaign after a so-so rookie season. This season they got a guy who made a bigger impact and did so in year one.
Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa went third overall to the Chargers and looked like he could be a long term holdout. After much debate and back-and-forth he signed his deal and missed four games, but was still able to record double-digit sacks with 10.5. His great performance led to him being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. It would also lead him to being on the cover of Madden if they had to choose one person from the newest L.A. franchise.
Los Angeles Rams: Aaron Donald — DT
Let’s keep getting defensive in Los Angeles. Obviously after one season back in California, the Rams would have preferred to see their first-overall selection Jared Goff here. That’s not going to happen because the quarterback out of Cal who was compared to Aaron Rodgers struggled to even outplay Case Keenum at the position. He started seven games and had more interceptions than touchdowns as the team lost every game he started in
Maybe Goff will turn it around now that the perpetually losing, but for some reason usually employed head coach Jeff Fisher is gone. Replacing him is the youngest coach in the league Sean McVay. Famous for his work with quarterback Kirk Cousins, McVay may be able help Goff reach his potential. Until that time comes though, the Rams need another nominee and that would be defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
The 25-year-old Donald has been a nightmare for opposing offensive lines since entering the league. As a rookie he started 12-of-16 games played and recorded nine sacks. He was named the 2014 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year but performed even better in year two when he had 11 sacks. In 2016 he recorded eight more and is one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL.
Miami Dolphins: Jay Ajayi — RB
Head coach Adam Gase nearly ruined the Miami Dolphins season. After they let running back Lamar Miller leave for the Houston Texans via free agency it appeared that second-year player Jay Ajayi would slide into his role. He was a fifth-round pick but had a sensationally productive career at Boise State and fell due to knee injury concerns. It seemed Ajayi would be healthy and ready to explode out of the gates.
That isn’t what happened, though. Instead, the Dolphins went for an older running back with more injury issues in Arian Foster, recently cut by the same Houston team that picked up Miller. Foster was coming off several plagued seasons and averaged just 2.6 yards per game in the four games he did play in during the 2015 year. For Miami the results were almost identical as he again played in just four games and averaged 2.5 yards per rush.
Injuries forced him to retire and again Gase bypassed Ajayi, this time in favor of rookie Kenyan Drake. The Alabama product was never a starter in college and, despite having a good role as a rotational guy, should have always been behind Ajayi.
Finally after awhile Ajayi got his shot. He burst onto the scene rushing for 204 yards against the Steelers for the hapless Dolphins and the team came to life. He had another 200-yard game the following week and one more before the year ended. Despite starting just 12 games Ajayi managed to land fourth in the league in rushing and could have been the champ had he started 16 games. At least he gets the love here and that’s what really matters.
Minnesota Vikings: Xavier Rhodes — CB
The Minnesota Vikings are a pretty tough team. They win with hard nosed defense. Their head coach, Mike Zimmer, should be credited as he is a defensive guy and he even showed his toughness when returning to coaching promptly after having emergency retina surgery.
Zimmer sets the tone for this team and they have some real studs as well. On the defensive line they have Brian Robison and Everson Griffen as the ends with Danielle Hunter playing the part of the rotational edge rusher. They also have great linebackers like Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks as well as stellar safety Harrison Smith.
Even with all those stars, one guy stood out as the best on their defense, cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney — DE
No one would have thought anybody besides defensive end J.J. Watt could make this list, but here we are. 2014 first-overall pick Jadeveon Clowney is the choice for the Houston Texans to cover Madden, and it’s well deserved. Of course, one caveat is that this only happened following the 2016 season because Watt was injured and spent most of the year on IR following back surgery.
Clowney stepped up in the absence of Watt and helped the Texans lead the league in fewest yards surrendered. He was day in and day out the toughest guy to block on the Texans roster and the attention he drew really helped free up rushers like outside linebacker John Simon and Whitney Mercilus. Clowney also showed some versatility as the Texans moved him from outside linebacker to end in their 3-4 scheme and he did incredibly well.
While his sack total didn’t show his effort, Clowney deserves a ton of praise for his development. He finished the season by recording a sack in each of the final three games and kept that momentum going after the regular season. In the team’s playoff win against the Oakland Raiders Clowney deflected two passes at the line of scrimmage. The first he nearly picked off and the second one he did.
Should they be able to get Watt healthy and keep Clowney on the field as well in 2017, this defense will only be more dominant.
Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck — QB
The Indianapolis Colts had a tough choice to make following the 2011 NFL season. The best quarterback they ever had, Peyton Manning, spent the whole season on IR after several neck surgeries. They were a mess without him as they won just two games that season. The poor record led to them obtaining the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was the consensus number one pick and considered a once in a decade kind of talent. The Colts faced the problem head on and cut Manning, which had to be a hard decision. They felt confident enough that Luck would be a great player to make that tough choice and so far it has paid off.
Manning went off and won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, which made it a good move for him as well. For the Colts though, they have gone 43-27 with Luck starting. The talented young passer has thrown for 19,078 yards with 132 touchdown passes. He’s still going strong a full season after Manning retired and still has several years left to excel in the league.
While the last two seasons haven’t gone the way the team likes, the future is still bright for Luck and he’s the best player on the team by far.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Allen Robinson — WR
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been picking in the top 10 in the NFL Draft for what feels like an eternity. With all their premium selections they should be a great team by now, but despite being dark horse favorites for several seasons they keep losing game after game. While not every player has lived up to their expectations, one player has gone above his.
That would be Allen Robinson, one of two wide receivers the team selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. The Penn State product had a slow rookie season, but showed a lot of promise during the year. The following season Robinson broke out. He had 80 receptions for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns that year while having a knack for making contested catches.
As a whole the Jaguars offense struggled in 2016, and while Robinson didn’t repeat the success he had during the previous campaign he was still an excitable player. He also is arguably the most talented player on their offense. Of course, after winning just three games and losing 13 Jacksonville most likely won’t be getting any calls about being on Madden, but if they did it seems like the best choice would be Robinson.
Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Berry — FS
This one was tough. The Kansas City Chiefs have several talented players like quarterback Alex Smith, but he isn’t really held in that high of esteem because he is generally considered a game manager. There there’s wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who is incredibly balanced, although unspectacular.
From there we look at tight end Travis Kelce, who is one of the best at his position and would be incredibly worthy of being the cover guy. So too would nose tackle Dontari Poe, simply because he is a run stuffing beast and is the orchestrator of the “Bloated Tebow” which may be the greatest trick play ever.
Besides these guys listed, the Chiefs have one other player who would be the selection if the only criteria was on-field performance. Rookie receiver/return man Tyreek Hill was the most explosive player on the Chiefs offense and by season’s end he was the main reason they moved the ball on offense. However, his off-field domestic violence against a then-pregnant girlfriend in college makes him untouchable by the good people at EA Sports.
So instead they go with the feel good story of safety Eric Berry. He returned to the game in 2015 after a cancer diagnosis the previous year and by 2016 he was his former dominate self again. He had 77 tackles while also intercepting four passes. Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns as Berry showed his explosive speed was back after all his missed time. Hopefully they’re smart enough to keep him moving forward as he enters free agency.
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