Is the Madden Curse Real or Coincidence?

The Madden 22 cover athletes were revealed today by EA Sports.  Our lucky or not so lucky cover boys are Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. They are going with a GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) theme with the undisputed GOAT in Brady and the next generation GOAT in Mahomes.

Brady (Madden 18) and Mahomes (Madden 20) have both been cover athletes in the past. Both managed to avoid any major curse heat. Brady has a great statistical year in his cover year. Although, the Patriots lost a big upset in the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles led by journeyman QB Nick Foles. Mahomes won a Super Bowl and MVP in his cover year but did miss two games with a knee injury.

The Madden Curse. An old legend declaring the player on the cover of the popular EA Sports video game will have a bad statistical year or get injured the season they appear on the cover. It all started in 1999 when the game replaced its namesake John Madden with Garrison Hearst, a popular NFL player at that time.  Almost every season since, there has been an uncanny number of players that seemed to fall victim. For the sake of keeping this a manageable length, let’s take a look at some highlights.

The Early Years

The inaugural cover boy on Madden 99 was Garrison Hearst. In 1998 Hearst had over 2000 total yards, 9 TDs and 5.1 yards per carry. Pro Bowl-caliber stuff and well-deserved distinction for a player that dominated the NFL that year. But on the first play from scrimmage in the 49ers divisional playoff game, Hearst suffered a gruesome ankle injury and missed the next two seasons. He was never the same player again and he retired a few years later.

Madden 2K featured Barry Sanders, arguably the best to play his position. Barry was in his prime and coming offseason after season of dominance. Sanders surprised everyone and just flat-out retired out of nowhere. Did the Curse cost of years of Sanders greatness?

The next couple for discussion is 2003 Marshall Faulk and 2007 Shaun Alexander. Both guys were dominating the running back position for years prior to their cover years. Coincidently both were injured those years and never played at that high level again.

2004 was the cover year for Michael Vick. He was drafted #1 overall in 2001 and was setting a new standard for the QB position with his unmatched speed, elusiveness and arm strength. He was named for the cover after his first full year as a starter. Right after the game was released, Vick broke his leg and missed 11 games. A few years later he was convicted of running a dogfighting ring at his house. He spent 21 months in prison.

2008 Vince Young cover guy was coming off a fantastic rookie season where he was named to the Pro Bowl and awarded the Offensive Rookie of the Year. He suffered an injury that season and eventually was cut by the Titans.  Interestingly, LaDainian Tomlinson was set to be on the cover that year but declined. Sorry Vince Young.

The Next Decade and Beyond

2013 Calvin Johnson totally dominated his cover year. He had 1964 yards on 122 receptions. Nobody can curse Megatron! Enough said.

2014 Adrian Peterson came off a torn ACL to post over 2,000 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns the year before his Madden cover. He was only 8 yards short of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record that year. In his cover season, he was suspended on child abuse charges and missed every game but one. Cursed?

Fast forward to Madden 19 and our cover guy was Antonio Brown coming off a 104 catch, 1,300-yard season with 15 TDs! Here is a quick recap on Brown that year. He went from his unexpected benching in Week 17 after internal struggles with the team to a litany of other things. He was accused of assault, burglary, and battery. Was all this trouble linked to the curse? We will never know.

Last season the cover player on Madden 21 was Lamar Jackson.  Jackson was coming off an MVP season with the Ravens and was awarded the cover. He ended up having a less than stellar statistical season the next year.  Would this count as falling prey to the Madden Curse?

A lot on the list only had subpar seasons for what was expected of them. It was the year after a huge statistical performance and they naturally regressed to the mean. As with a lot of things, if you want to see something you can find it and bend it to fit your narrative. If you love a good conspiracy theory, then “The Madden Curse” has enough coincidences and chance injuries to possibly keep you from drafting the guy on the cover. Good luck to our current GOATs on avoiding the curse in the 2021 season!

The List

1. Madden 1999: Garrison Hurst

2. Madden 2000: Barry Sanders

3. Madden 2001: Eddie George

4. Madden 2002: Daunte Culpepper

5. Madden 2003: Marshall Faulk

6. Madden 2004: Michael Vick

7. Madden 2005: Ray Lewis

8. Madden 2006: Donovan McNabb

9. Madden 2007: Shaun Alexander

10. Madden 2008: Vince Young

11. Madden 2009: Brett Favre

12. Madden 2010: Troy Polamalu & Larry Fitzgerald

13. Madden 2011: Drew Brees

14. Madden 2012: Peyton Hillis

15. Madden 2013: Calvin Johnson

16. Madden 2014: Adrian Peterson

17. Madden 2015: Richard Sherman

18. Madden 2016: Odell Beckham Jr.

19. Madden 2017: Rob Gronkowski

20. Madden 2018: Tom Brady

21. Madden 2019: Antonio Brown

22. Madden 2020: Patrick Mahomes

23. Madden 2021: Lamar Jackson

24. Madden 2022: Tom Brady/Patrick Mahomes

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