Will Christian McCaffrey suffer from Madden curse? 49ers fans probably don’t need to worry

Admin June 12, 2024

The next iteration of the Madden video game franchise will arrive soon with San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey gracing the cover for the first time in his career. Of course, with that honor always comes the question: what about the Madden curse?

McCaffrey, an All-Pro running back for San Francisco and widely considered a top running back in the league, is the first 49ers player to grace the cover and first running back on the cover since Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders and former Lion Adrian Peterson were on separate copies for the 25th-anniversary edition of Madden, also named Madden 25, released in 2014.

There is a long-running belief that whichever NFL player is chosen by EA Sports as the Madden cover athlete is doomed to have a disappointing season or, even worse, a real-life injury. While there may be a few examples of some bad luck for players on the cover, in actuality, the curse is all but dead. Maybe Madden got better at picking their players, or maybe the curse was broken.

Either way, here is a look at the last 10 cover athletes and how they did in the ensuing season.