Could Peyton Manning be one of the mystery “Madden” cover athletes?

EA Sports dropped a teaser video on Monday for its “Madden NFL 22” cover athlete, featuring two goats and former Broncos RB Peyton Hillis

BY JOHNNY HART

Jun 14, 2021, 11:54 AM

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The folks over at EA Sports unleashed a fun mystery for the internet to solve on Monday, dropping a teaser for the cover athlete for “Madden NFL 22.”

The video, which features not only a fun cameo from former Denver Broncos running back (and “Madden” cover athlete) Peyton Hillis but also two goats in a barn, seems to imply the next cover athlete or athletes will be GOATs.

Even former cover athlete @thepeytonhillis didn’t see this coming…

🐐 6.17.21 | 10am ET 🐐 #Madden22 pic.twitter.com/xiriLClQx3

— Madden NFL 22 (@EAMaddenNFL) June 14, 2021

The world will officially find out on June 17 who’ll be on the “Madden NFL 22” cover, but of course the internet couldn’t wait that long to start guessing.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people have offered up a duo of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

But let’s toss out another prediction, shall we?

It’s Peyton — not Hillis, but Manning.

It makes perfect sense to have Peyton Manning, who’s at least in the conversation of greatest of all time, grace the cover in the year that he goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And you can pair Manning with his long-time “rival” Brady, himself coming off a seventh Super Bowl victory, like how “Madden NFL 19” featured Antonio Brown on the “Standard Edition” and Terrell Owens on the “Hall of Fame Edition.”

However, Broncos Country might also want to root for a different quarterback to be featured on the cover: Aaron Rodgers.

The only time a Green Bay Packers quarterback was featured on the cover — Brett Favre in 2008 — he never played another down for the team and was traded that offseason (to the New York Jets).

Wishful thinking? Yes. But as Peyton Hillis illustrated with his meteoric rise to the “Madden NFL 12” cover in 2011, anything can happen.