Odell Beckham, Jr. lands the cover of ‘Madden NFL 16’

First, the catch. Now, the cover.

As revealed during a live event on ESPN’s Sportscenter Wednesday evening, New York Giants wide receiver extraordinaire Odell Beckham, Jr. beat out New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski to become the face of Madden NFL 16, due out this summer.

“This is mindblowing,” Beckham said. “After playing one year of football and then being on the cover? I’m at a loss for words."

The honor puts an exclamation point on a huge debut season for the agile receiver, highlighted by one of the craziest catches ever. Beckham backed up that one-handed grab with over 1,300 receiving yards and 12 TDs in only 12 games, good enough to score him the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award and give him the cred needed to enter the race for the cover.

Still, few expected he’d beat out a face as famous as Gronkowski’s in the fan-voted Madden competition, which ran over the past two weeks. But perhaps aided by a general anti-Patriots sentiment wafting off the Deflategate kerfuffle, Beckham pulled it off.

To complement the cover reveal, EA also debuted the first trailer for Madden 16. Whereas last year’s game focused on improving the way gamers play defense, the new effort is all about playmaking on offense. Or at least that’s what the press release says, because the trailer’s a little vague:

As for Giants fans worried that Beckham will now suffer a grievous injury thanks to the so-called Madden Curse, you should probably relax.

For years, it seemed that disaster would befall any player lucky enough to grace the cover of Madden – a tweaked hamstring here, a sprained knee there - but the curse has been pretty dormant lately. Last year’s star, Richard Sherman, had a typically solid 2014. And while Adrian Peterson didn’t play great the year after his run on the cover of Madden 25 (the 25th anniversary of the franchise, not just a random numbering faux-pas), Calvin Johnson had a huge year following his time as cover star for Madden 13. The curse is pretty much a non-issue.

Or maybe it’s just been biding its time. Good luck Odell! Don't break a leg!

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