2001 was the first year an athlete was featured on the cover of EA Sports’ Madden franchise and every year there is a ton of excitement leading up to the reveal right around the time of the NFL Draft (which starts tomorrow at 4pm EST). This year was no different with EA building up the reveal by giving everybody a tease of the 9 candidates that they were choosing from to be featured on ‘Madden NFL 10.’ Just minutes ago it was officially announced that, for the first time ever, the cover of Madden will be shared by two athletes with Troy Polamalu from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. Here’s the picture from the Times Square reveal courtesy of EA’s @DocHowser. Let’s see if the curse can take on two superstars at once.

UPDATE: The Madden site has been updated with the cover art. Here’s an even better look.

What do you guys think of this year’s selection and box art?