49ers' Christian McCaffrey couldn't have picked a better time to be on the cover of Madden
EA Sports on Tuesday confirmed what many had predicted, revealing that San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey will be on the cover of Madden 25. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year will be the first running back to feature on the cover since 2013, when Barry Sanders (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) and Adrian […]
EA Sports on Tuesday confirmed what many had predicted, revealing that San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey will be on the cover of Madden 25.
The reigning Offensive Player of the Year will be the first running back to feature on the cover since 2013, when Barry Sanders (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) and Adrian Peterson (PS4 and Xbox One) were selected to grace the cover of the 25th anniversary edition of the game.
McCaffrey said in a press release: "To be on the cover of Madden NFL is a career achievement and an honor I share with all of my teammates, coaches and 49er Faithful who have helped make it possible.
"I'm pumped to get back on the field this year to give Madden players more reasons to keep scoring touchdowns with me in Madden NFL 25.”
But with the announcement of the Madden cover athlete comes predictable talk of the Madden curse, with several players over the years going on to endure significantly disappointing seasons after appearing on the cover.
However, any 49ers fans worrying about McCaffrey falling victim to the curse shouldn't be too concerned, as he could not have picked a better time to be on the cover.
Indeed, there is mounting evidence that the curse is a thing of the past.
The past five Madden NFL covers indicate the curse is over
- Madden 20: Patrick Mahomes wins the god damn Super Bowl and is the MVP of the league.
- Madden 21: Lamar Jackson doesn't repeat as MVP but still has a quality quarterback season and leads Ravens to 11-4 record as starter and wins a playoff game
- Madden 22: Tom Brady and Mahomes grace the cover together. Mahomes wins second career MVP but loses to Joe Burrow in AFC title game. Brady has his last high quality season, second in MVP voting, Tampa loses in NFC divisional game.
- Madden 23: John Madden back on the cover. No notes.
- Madden 24: Josh Allen has up-and-down season but stabilizes after offensive coordinator change. Barely loses to Mahomes in divisional round.
In short, the five players picked to be on the cover over the last five editions of the game all went to the playoffs and all impressed, with Allen garnering one first-place vote for MVP last season.
The main fear with McCaffrey will be him succumbing to injury after carrying a massive workload for the 49ers last season. However, both Jackson and Allen avoided such a fate despite putting themselves at risk consistently as dual-threat quarterbacks.
Declaring the curse over may be tempting fate, but recent history indicates there's little reason for the 49ers to lose too much sleep over it striking the focal point of their offense.
