Less than 24 hours before EA Sports' official "Madden 22" cover reveal, users in the ESPN app got a sneak peak at what's to come.
Earlier in the week, EA Sports teased the cover of "Madden 22" by using two goats. One goat appeared smaller than the other, leading many to believe the theme was GOAT (greatest of all time) and baby GOAT. The teaser also featured former "Madden" cover athlete Peyton Hillis saying, "they did it again."
And indeed, EA Sports did do it again, in a number of ways.
MORE: "Madden" cover athletes since 2000
As LokiVibes on Reddit and many others discovered, the "Madden 22" cover could be seen in ESPN's app Wednesday night. Based on the sceenshot, it looks like it was meant to be an advertisement, encouraging others to preorder the game. But it was sent out just a little early.
As for the cover itself, EA Sports really made a unique choice. This is just the second cover to feature dual athletes. The first was for "Madden 10" and it featured Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald, both stars in the previous Super Bowl. Again we see two stars from the previous Super Bowl, but we also see duplicated cover athletes — the first time in Madden history we've seen that. Tom Brady first made the cover in "Madden 18" and Patrick Mahomes made the cover just a couple of years ago on "Madden 20."
Of course, this was somewhat expected. After "Madden's" tease of two goats, it didn't take long before people connected the dots. There were also rumors of a "secret" photoshoot between Brady and Mahomes a few weeks prior, and now it's clear what that photoshoot was for.
The official "Madden" cover reveal will happen at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday. And as the leak suggests, "Madden" will be available to play early on Aug. 17.
