Apparently, the famed Madden curse is back, as Madden NFL 25 cover star Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers will miss four games.
Sky News announced McCaffrey’s transfer to the injured reserve list due to calf tightness and Achilles tendonitis, a month after he appeared on the cover of EA Sports’ latest American football game, which is set to release on August 13, 2024.
McCaffrey could return as early as October 10th to play against the Seattle Seahawks, so hopefully this injury scare isn’t too grave, but it does bring to mind the so-called Madden curse. This fan theory suggests that every athlete who appears on the cover of Madden NFL is going through a downturn in their career, either due to injury or overall indigent performance.
CBS Sports analyzed the history of the Madden curse after McCaffrey was announced as the 2024 cover star, finding that between 2000 and 2024, 58% of players had issues after appearing on the cover. McCaffrey could augment that percentage a bit, though.
Hopefully, the injury won’t derail McCaffrey’s career or the 49ers’ season, and it certainly won’t affect his appearance on the cover of Madden NFL 25.
The last memorable case of a major cover change for a sports title was probably NBA 2K18, when star Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics after 2K Sports had already printed promotional materials for the game, prompting the company to order the Cavaliers version scrapped and all covers featuring Irving in a Boston Celtics uniform to be rephotographed and reprinted.
IGN’s Madden NFL 25 review gave it a 6/10. We said, “There are a lot of on-field improvements to like in Madden NFL 25, but most of them are long overdue and don’t make up for all the same issues that go unaddressed elsewhere.”
Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance reporter for IGN. He’ll be talking Witcher all day long.