The Madden Curse strikes again. Every year it seems that there are doubters about the 'curse' that is surrounded by the John Madden video game, and every year those who doubt seem to be reminded that the curse is in fact real.
When Christian McCaffrey was tabbed to be the cover of the Madden game this season a collective groan came over 49 land and the fantasy community alike. Those who know, know. EA itself has publicly come out to deny the existence of the curse, which in itself tells you about how much publicity it has gotten.
This isn't just a silly superstition because math has begun to back up the paranoia. 14 of the 24 athletes on the cover of Madden from 2000-2024 have had some sort of injury that derailed their season. Although that number has decreased recently with only 30% of athletes on the cover having been injured over the past decade, the curse has popped out it's ugly head this season once again.
Christian McCaffrey was the consensus #1 pick in fantasy drafts and garnered the most tickets to be the leagues Offensive Player of the Year. He had an injury history, but that hadn't reared it's ugly head in a few seasons. All was right with the world for him, until EA sports called. Many of the Madden cursed athletes have been cursed but Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady have both been on the cover twice and both avoided a dreaded fate.
It seems that some elite players might avoid the curse, but most times the player who is struck with it is coming off of a career year, and many times logged a lot of carries the season prior. So, an injury seems more likely than not. But, I wouldn't want one of my teams players or even my top fantasy pick on that cover, just to be safe.
McCaffrey is now down for what experts are saying will be 4-6 weeks and this 'silly superstition' now seems very real. There is a silver lining on the curse though as there haven’t been back-to-back curses since 2011-2012. So whoever is on the cover next season might be ok, but we should always fear the Madden Curse.