After falling short last year, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was officially named as the cover athlete for Madden NFL '17 on Thursday.
A honor to be on the cover! I'M THE NEW #MADDEN17 COVER ATHLETE!!! Thanks @easportsinsider! #GRONKCOVER pic.twitter.com/z5M3IqxYmt
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) May 12, 2016
Not surprisingly, Gronkowski's selection brought about mixed emotions on Twitter. While some Patriots fans were happy with the selection, many were worried about the so-called Madden curse, in which bad things happen to the player during the year he appears on the cover. While this curse seems to have been disproved in recent years, fans are still concerned.
Gronk will be the cover star of Madden 17. Will the curse strike again? Fantasy teams without Gronk hope so!
— Christopher Hatcher (@hatchdaddy) May 12, 2016
Still probably gonna buy Madden 17 but if Gronk gets hurt this season I'm coming back to retweet all the excited tweets
— Ron (@Captain_Compton) May 12, 2016
Gronk on the cover of Madden 17. #1 pick. Reverse the curse
— Jeromey Rome Rome (@R_Jeezy_DaGreat) May 12, 2016
First Tom Brady gets suspended and now @RobGronkowski is on Madden 17 cover. I guess the @Patriots won't be winning a @SuperBowl this year
— Ian Smith (@IanMalcolmSmith) May 12, 2016
With no fan vote to determine the cover athlete for the first time in six years, a number of fans were wondering why Gronkowski got the nod over the Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton, the reigning NFL MVP.
Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos' Chris Harris Jr. wondered why his teammate and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller wasn't selected.
Cam Newton got snubbed. Would have loved to seen him on the cover of Madden 17.
— Jacob Duke (@j_duke17) May 12, 2016
I was gonna buy Madden 17 if Cam was on the cover. Now I will not purchase it
— Tanner Ayers (@tannerayerss) May 12, 2016
Cam was MVP. Why is he not on the Madden 17 cover? 🤔
— Tim Chestnut✊✌️ (@2Tim_C) May 12, 2016
Fam @Millerlite40 got played smh . MVP , no car no madden cover
— Chris Harris (@ChrisHarrisJr) May 12, 2016
And with the combination of Gronkowski's penchant for partying and the lingering specter of the Patriots' Deflategate issue, there came some amusing tweets speculating what else will be included in Madden '17.
If there isn't a secret 'party cruise' mode on Madden '17 with Gronk what are we even doing here: https://t.co/ep5rdTxaGs
— sarah sprague (@sarah_sprague) May 12, 2016
A patriot on the cover of madden 17? There's gotta be cheat codes for the game then right?
— Logan McSwain (@loganmatthew22) May 12, 2016