New York Giants fans are roughly one year removed from one of the most egregious offseason moves of all time. Letting Saquon Barkley stroll down I-95 to the Philadelphia Eagles will forever be one of the biggest organizational blunders in all of NFL history.
Barkley had a productive first six seasons in East Rutherford. He tallied 5,211 rushing yards and 35 rushing touchdowns while averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Those are solid numbers... they also pale in comparison to his numbers with the Eagles (2,005 yards, 13 touchdowns, 5.8 YPC). He also might have won Offensive Player of the Year and a Super Bowl. So yeah, it's clear the G-Men got the short end of the stick on that decision.
We can go back and forth on whether Saquon looks right in Kelly Green (he doesn’t), but what’s not really up for debate is his first year with Philly is officially getting immortalized. EA Sports just dropped the early look at the Madden 26 cover, and it's safe to say Giants fans aren’t going to love it.
Madden 26 will feature Saquon Barkley on the cover
EA Sports announced that Saquon Barkley will be on the cover of their new Madden 26 video game coming August 14, 2025.
Unfortunately for Madden, their finance and sales departments clearly weren't working together on this one. New York City and the surrounding tri-state area has, oh I don't know... millions of people. That's millions of potential customers Madden might have just turned off from buying the game. No one is saying EA Sports' bottom line is going to take a hit due to a loss of customers, but don't be surprised if it does.
In all seriousness, out of every player in the league, they pick Barkley? And they use the photo of him defying physics while he was backward-hurdling Jarrian Jones of the Jacksonville Jaguars, too? It's an all-time slap in the face to Giants fans.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about a video game. It’s about what it represents. Giants fans already had to sit through the worst part — watching Saquon win the Super Bowl with the Eagles. Now he’s the face of Madden 26, and EA decided to use the most obnoxiously inadvertent shot possible to rub it in. Maybe Giants fans leave this edition on the shelf.