People who don't believe in curses may still ultimately subscribe to the curse of being on the cover of EA Sports' hit video game, Madden.
Now, San Francisco 49ers fans can recall just how real that curse is after watching All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey grace the cover for Madden 25 after a 2023 campaign that saw him take home Offensive Player of the Years honors, spurring the Niners into the Super Bowl that season.
And then, McCaffrey missed all but four games in 2024 after dealing with both Achilles and knee issues. Not only was the injury brutal for McCaffrey and San Francisco that season, but it also reinforced the notion of a true curse.
Of course, now it's another player's turn to be on the cover, and the honor will go to Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, who enjoyed his own Offensive Player of the Year campaign a season ago, which helped him claim the title of Madden cover athlete for the 2026 installment.
Awesome news for him. And McCaffrey didn't hesitate to share congratulatory sentiments:
True, it is a well-deserved honor. Not only did Barkley help Philly win its second Super Bowl over the last 10 seasons, but he also rumbled forward with a whopping (and league-leading) 2,005 rush yards and 2,283 all-purpose yards, eclipsing McCaffrey's own stellar 2,023 all-purpose-yard campaign from two seasons ago.
Now, however, Philadelphia fans can both celebrate and potentially commiserate with 49ers fans about a star player landing on Madden's cover at the risk of suffering at the hands of the alleged curse.
There might be some effective truths to the curse for tailbacks, too, especially in light of the Niners essentially "running McCaffrey into the ground" that season, not unlike what the Eagles did with Barkley after a league-high 378 total touches in 2024.
That's a lot of wear and tear.
Hopefully, at least for Barkley's sake, no curse follows him out from the West Coast.
But, it's going to remain a major worry point regardless.
Read more from Niner Noise