What is the Madden Cover Curse? NFL Cover Athletes, Victims List Shows Trend (2024)

For NFL stars, getting on the front and center of EA’s Madden video game is a dream come true. It typically means they’ve made it in the league, or are ascending the ladder towards becoming one of the best. However, there’s also been a troubling trend that developed over the years as certain players fell victim to bad luck after getting the cover. So what exactly is the Madden curse? We look at some of the cover athlete victims over the game’s history.

What is the Madden cover curse?

EA’s Madden franchise has been going strong since 1988 back when it was only available in MS-DOS format for really old-fashioned computers. It’s carried the “Madden” name on it throughout history and featured the legendary coach himself on the cover until 1998.

That’s when some believe trouble started with the Madden cover curse. It seemed that certain athletes fell victim to injury or had poor performances in their next seasons after appearing on the cover.

Some people believe in the cover superstition. Others believe that the cover athlete performed so well in the previous season that it could lead to their next season being subpar. Injuries are also part of the game, as football involves plenty of contact amongst gridiron heavyweights. So to think cover athletes become immune to them is a bad way to view things.

With the Madden 21 cover, Lamar Jackson feels he’ll be just fine in his next season. Nonetheless, there are a number of examples of Madden cover curse athletes to look at.

Cursed cover athlete victims include Vick, Gronk

In the past two decades, we’ve seen several high-profile NFL stars become possible Madden cover curse victims. Arguably the biggest of those was Michael Vick who graced the cover of the 2004 game. Vick suffered a preseason injury with a fractured fibula. Vick was out for 11 games and finished with just 585 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Rob Gronkowski recently made headlines for coming out of retirement to join Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former Super Bowl champion was on the cover of Madden 17, but he ended up missing several of the Pats’ first games in the season.

He’d return for a few weeks, but appeared to be underperforming. Gronk eventually looked like he was back on track, only to suffer a back injury that sent him out for surgery.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb appeared on Madden 06 cover after a solid season. However, his next season was anything but memorable. McNabb and receiver Terrell Owens had issues. A groin injury in Week 9 put McNabb out of action and gave many Madden fans reason to bemoan the curse.

The Madden 18 cover featured Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fans probably remember all of the drama that came his way with his move from the Steelers to the Raiders. Then there was the drama with the Raiders, a move to the Patriots, continuing legal issues, and eventually being waived. Basically, 2019 was a bad year for the cover star.

Here are several more cover victims from the past two decades per FOX Sports:

• Madden 07: Shaun Alexander (Seahawks) – broken foot, 10 games played in subpar performance (252 carries for 896 yards, 7 TDs)
• Madden 12: Peyton Hillis – Fan vote, Hillis suffered multiple hamstring injuries (10 games included 161 carries, 587 yards, 3 TDs)
• Madden 2002: Daunte Culpepper (Vikings) – Suffered knee injury after 11 games. (Had 14 TDs but 13 INTS and the Vikings went 4-7 under him)
• Madden 09 – Brett Favre (Packers/Jets) – (retired and traded to Jets but appeared on cover in Packers uniform. Favre threw league-leading 22 INTs for a 9-7 Jets team.)

New cover athlete trend seems promising

It’s quite possible that a new trend is underway, though. The Madden cover curse may have been broken by the Madden 20 cover athlete Patrick Mahomes. While he suffered injuries in this most recent season, Mahomes also bounced back enough to continue playing. He’d ultimately lead his team to the Super Bowl and help with a comeback win to capture the Lombardi Trophy.

The NFL season is currently a question mark. However, Lamar Jackson has already notified everyone he’s got the Madden 21 cover. He also believes that he’ll follow in Mahomes’ footsteps. Both players won the MVP Award and then received the video game cover. Jackson will now look to continue that positive trend by having as little injury as possible and adding that Super Bowl ring to his resume.

Football fans, do you believe in the Madden cover curse?

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