Rob Gronkowski Lands Madden 17 Cover

There are few reasons to get excited about the NFL between the end of the draft and the start of Hard Knocks, but the release of the latest edition of Madden is usually enough to tide gaming fans over. A big part of the game is the cover athlete, with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski earning the honor for 2016.

For the first time since 2009, game developer EA Sports announced the Madden cover itself instead of letting the fans decide. “With this election year upon us, we don’t want you to lose sleep over another big decision,” EA joked. “So, we decided to take the pressure off this year and hand-select someone for the job.”

In what is becoming something of a tradition of showing players in their trademark poses, the cover features the party-loving pass catcher performing his trademark “Gronk spike.” Last year’s winner, Odell Beckham Jr., was photographed midway through a patented one-handed catch.

Patriots fans will be hoping the cover curse doesn’t exacerbate any injury concerns for the offensive weapon, who missed some time last season and still has something of a reputation for being brittle despite his monstrous frame. The dreaded Madden curse bypassed OBJ last year, who, despite making a lot of enemies with his dirty hits on new division rival Josh Norman, enjoyed an excellent year.

In recent years, superstars have fallen victim to the curse for very different reasons. 2014 poster boy Adrian Peterson was inducted on very serious child abuse charges one game into that season, and would not see the field again until a new cover athlete was chosen.

Browns running back Peyton Hillis was a one-year wonder in 2012, after which a series of small injuries and poor production ran him out of the league before you could say “Ask Madden.” In 2010, the cover was shared between Super Bowl participants Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald. While Fitz survived the season unscathed, Troy was injured on opening night, and the then-defending champions looked lost without him for the rest of that season.

How much of this is on the players – either through poor decisions or pure bad luck – is hard to answer. But as one-time cover winner and curse sufferer Shaun Alexander once said, “Would you rather be hurt, or hurt and on the cover?”