9 features Madden 2018 should add for cover boy Tom Brady

Tom Brady was announced Friday as the newest cover athlete for the Madden football franchise, an honor that's gone to Shaun Alexander, Vince Young, Peyton Hillis and Daunte Culpepper but never Brady until now. To celebrate the long-deserved honor, we make some suggestions for features the series could add to celebrate its newest cover boy.

Brady's new Madden 2018 game face.

Brady started last year as a 94 and rose to a 96 after the Super Bowl thanks, in part, to his stiff arm and acceleration talents improving midseason, as is wont to happen with a 39-year-old quarterback. This year, at age 40, is Brady going to be a 97? A 98? Could he get back to 99, a rating he hit in 2007, 2008 and 2011? I'm going to say yes, given his near-MVP season, plus that Super Bowl and then the extra bump all Madden cover athletes seem to get (Remember when Peyton Hillis was the sixth-highest rated running back in the game? For that matter, remember Peyton Hillis?) And if he doesn't hit 99 in overall rating, Brady can take solace in the fact that, after last year, he's a shoo-in to see his suspension rating jump to 99, a designation that automatically leads to trade offers from the virtual Bengals.

Every pass drop accompanied by a virtual Gisele hectoring wide receivers. 

Players can unlock certain items hidden in Brady's locker including "Make America Great Again" baseball caps, standard air pump needles and an industrial-grade magnet that can be used for destroying cell phones in a pinch.

After games, users hit the podium to answer questions by choosing from a selection of Brady's various mundane and cliched answers.  

"Tom, tell us about the game."

A) "It was a hard fight."

B) "That's a good team over in that locker room and we're fortunate to come out with a win."

C) "It's all about taking it one day at a time."

D) "I don't recall the deatails of my conversation with Mr. Jastremski."

In addition to being able to choose home, road, throwback or custom jerseys, Brady gets more specific choices such as the ability to play in Uggs, sporting a man bun, wearing Wes Welker's nightmare-fuel Tom Brady mask, holding a goat or as his shirtless 2000 self.

Remember how when a player would get injured in Super Tecmo Bowl, they'd return without any notice by running out of the hospital in full pads as nurses cheered from a balcony? In the spirit of that pregame excitement, Brady should randomly have to go to court before games, maybe once a season, maybe not at all, wearing sunglasses and failing to pay attention to the sea of virtual reporters outside. When Brady finds an unsympathetic judge who doesn't make kneejerk rulings against the NFL, he'll face quarter-season bans.

In addition to running, passing, defensive and kicking drills, the new minicamp training mode would include drills that help players work their way up at a Mexican newspaper, apply for Super Bowl credentials, take selfies, fence memorabilia, look unassuming while trespassing and capture that perfect stare, directly into the eye of camera.

Road games at Mar-a-Lago.