Well, thank goodness for that. The chances of Jared Allen having a down year or suffering a crippling injury just dropped immensely.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees officially will be announced Thursday as the cover boy for EA Sports' Madden 11 video game, having "won" a fan vote over Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne and Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen.
As has been well-documented over the past decade, the Madden cover is both an honor and a curse. A number of high-profile athletes have either abruptly retired (Barry Sanders in 1999), suffered significant injuries (Michael Vick in 2003, Donovan McNabb in 2005, Shaun Alexander in 2006 and Troy Polamalu last year) or suffered a drop in production.
That's okay. . .I'm sure there are a lot of Vikings that will be up for the honor of being on the cover of Madden '12.