Saquon Barkley's Madden NFL 26 cover features him wearing cleats from this NBA legend

Jael Rucker

Saquon Barkley's Madden NFL 26 cover features him wearing cleats from this NBA legend image

You may have already heard the news, but in case you haven't, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is officially this year's Madden NFL cover star.

The athlete confirmed the news on Monday with a statement: "Starring on the cover of Madden NFL 26 and being named to the Madden NFL ''99 Club' are both dreams come true. I'm grateful to my teammates, coaches, and Eagles fans for their support, and I can't wait to hit the field again to give Madden players more highlight-reel moments in Madden NFL 26." And while everybody is talking about the cover, we couldn't help but notice that the cover picture is from Barkley's viral reverse hurdle play over Jacksonville Jaguars' cornerback Jarrian Jones from last season.

At the time, many fans pointed out that Barkley was wearing the player-exclusive metallic silver Nike LeBron 4 cleats, and with that comes the footwear automatically being featured on the cover as well.

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Barkley's version featured a metallic silver colorway matching the Eagles' uniforms that remains exclusive to him. Luckily for fans, however, the athlete will be releasing his own Nike Alpha Menace 4 Elite cleats later on this week. As for Madden NFL 26, the game is set for a release date of August 14, 2025.

More updates are expected in the coming weeks.

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Jael Rucker

Jael Rucker has worked as the Associate Commerce Editor at PureWow, focusing on analytics and trends to pitch stories and optimize articles that build and engage their audience. Her work has also been seen in Footwear News and WWD. Prior to 2024, she was the style and pop culture editor at ONE37pm for over three years, contributing numerous product reviews, brand profiles and fashion trend reports, which included interviewing Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg and more.