Electronic Arts has been making football games since 1988. In 1993, with sparse releases of ’88, and ’89 that directly uses the “Madden” name – Madden games has sold extremely well, that EA continuously makes Madden games, renews licenses to use the John Madden or Madden names where Electronic Arts is allowed to. The football agency/league sponsored the entire franchise and lends its “NFL” label to the long running football games. On December 28, 2021 – John Madden died. So, in tribute fashion, in honoring his legacy, Electronic Arts made Madden the “cover athlete” for the game. (Image and more information below.) Alongside the announcement of Madden 23, EA followed up with a reveal trailer for Madden 23…
Madden 23 is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X on August 19, 2022. The cover “athlete” for Madden 23 is John Madden himself…

There are more cover arts at the official Madden 23 blog post here. The official Madden website is here.