Rob Gronkowski has the high seed as a No. 2 on one side of the 32-player tourney. He will be squaring off against the recently acquired wide receiver Brandon Lloyd for the opportunity to be the face of the newest Madden game.
Gronkowski has made his desire to become the newest cover athlete well known over the past couple of weeks. The Patriots tight end will have some stiff competition as he goes up against the Aaron Rodgers, who is the No. 1 seed on Gronkowski’s side of the bracket, Drew Brees and Arian Foster. Perennial wildcard Tim Tebow settles in as a No. 14 seed.
Lloyd was originally in the preliminary round as a member of the St. Louis Rams, beating Chris Long to see who would represent the franchise in the official tournament (Gronkowski defeated Wes Welker to represent the Pats). However, Lloyd signed with the Patriots, leaving the Rams out in the cold and the Patriots with two players vying for the Madden title.
On the other bracket, Cam Newton opposes Rodgers as the other No. 1 seed, alongside superstars such as Larry Fitzgerald and Maurice Jones-Drew.
The Oakland Raiders have possibly the oddest representative in the Madden sweepstakes, with kicker Sebastian Janikowski winning the bid over punter Shane Lechler. Raider Nation can’t be too thrilled that its team was represented by two special teamers.
Voting for the first round lasts until March 28. Each round will last for one week before voting ends for the final on April 25.
