Saquon Barkley is hurdling himself to the face of the NFL.

Former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley was selected as the cover athlete for Madden NFL 26, EA Sports announced on X on Monday. Barkley is the first Penn State alumnus and the 24th athlete to be featured on the cover.

This announcement follows Barkley’s exceptional 2025-26 season with the Philadelphia Eagles where he won Super Bowl LIX and was named the 2024 NFL Offensive Player of The Year.

Barkley led the league in rushing with a career-best 2,005 yards during the regular season, becoming just the ninth running back in NFL history to reach the 2,000-yard mark. He also added 278 receiving yards out of the backfield for Philadelphia.

The Nittany Lion legend is the second running back in a row to be chosen as Madden’s cover athlete. San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffery appeared on the cover of Madden 25. Before McCaffery, the last running back to be on the cover of Madden was Adrian Peterson in 2013.

Madden 26 is set to release on August 14 on all platforms, while early access will begin on August 11 for those who pre-order the Deluxe edition.