Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen has spent 12 years in the league. He’s made three Pro Bowls. He’s not some anonymous player fighting for a practice-squad spot.
Yet, EA Sports’ Madden video game franchise has struggled for years to produce a Greg Olsen player that looks even remotely close to Greg Olsen.
That was no different for the recent Madden 20 video game. But unlike Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury, Olsen doesn’t appear to be taking the embarrassingly bad likeness as a sign of disrespect. In fact, he somewhat blamed himself for the Madden avatar that looked a lot like Nick Swisher.
Olsen explained what happened in an appearance on NFL Network, via panthers.com:
“A couple years ago down at the Pro Bowl they (EA Sports) were doing head scans and I guess I didn’t do it. For whatever reason, I was tied up with something else and didn’t do it. Since then they never asked me to do it again.”
He continued, making the Swisher observation:
“I look like Nick Swisher. I’d prefer it look like me, I’ll be honest.”
But still, you’d think in the Year 2019, Madden would be able to put together a decent Greg Olsen without an in-person face scan. At the very least, the folks at Madden should be able to get the hair color and facial hair correct.
The game’s attempt at correcting its Greg Olsen didn’t fare much better.
C’mon, Madden. It shouldn’t be this difficult.
