Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley officially graced the cover of EA’s "Madden NFL 26" video game on Monday, and his predecessor, 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey, showed him love on social media.
“Saquon – congrats, man,” McCaffrey said in a video he posted on X. “Madden 26 for number 26. It’s my honor to be passing down the Madden cover to you. Keeping it within the running back family, we got to keep it that way.
“So fired up for you, man. You’ve been pushing the standards since college (Penn State), and to see all your success is no shock to me. So, congrats, man; enjoy it, and I hope to see you soon.”
Barkley earned his cover stardom after finishing the 2024 NFL season with 2,283 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns on 378 touches, taking home the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award and a Super Bowl LIX victory.
McCaffrey, of course, was on the cover of “Madden NFL 25” after finishing the 2023 campaign as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year, too, for collecting 2,023 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns on 339 touches from scrimmage.
Like McCaffrey said, Barkley is keeping the Madden cover in the “running back family.” Outside of a special-edition John Madden cover for “Madden NFL 2023,” five quarterbacks consecutively donned the video game’s front until the San Francisco star reclaimed the honor on behalf of those in the backfield in “Madden NFL 2025.”
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast