Eagles Fans and Saquon Barkley Fantasy Owners should be a little wary of his potential production now but not to worried, with EA Sports making the announcement that they made on Monday morning, having the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year on the Madden 26 Cover, so that the Madden Curse might be in the air.
The Cover Art is fire, with Barkley recreating the iconic “Backwards Hurdle” against the Jaguars last year on the standard edition of the cover. Still, potential fantasy owners will look at that and start to worry because of the history of running backs on the cover. Here’s a little breakdown of the last few running backs to grace the cover and my thoughts on the matter.
Madden 25 CMC
Christian McCaffery was on the cover last season for Madden 25, and he had his worst year on the 49ers by far with his multiple leg injuries, including an Achilles tendinitis injury that kept him out most of the year to start the season. Now I think the McCaffery thing is more of a load on his body throughout his career, and his injury-prone history contributed to that misfortune. But that does give credence to this point of the Madden Curse, but this Saquon situation could be a little different, as I will lay out later.
Madden 25th Anniversary Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson played only one game, but after that, he was suspended for the rest of the season because of the off-field situation with his child that season. Peterson, in the one game that he played that season, only had 75 yards and zero touchdowns on 21 carries, so you can argue that the Madden Curse did have an impact on that, but I credit that more so as a guy who had a bad situation in his life that was his own doing rather then a mythical curse.
Madden 12 Peyton Hillis
The most infamous case of the Madden Curse being real for the running back position was the Madden 12 Cover Athlete, Peyton Hillis. Hillis had a great 2010 season, but the 2011 season was a nightmare for him and Hillis’ fantasy owners after the announcement of the cover. In 10 games, he only had 587 yards and three touchdowns. His career dropped off after that season dramatically, but Saquon is a more talented running back than Hillis ever was.
Final Thoughts
The Madden Curse has affected the top running backs in the past seasons, and CMC’s case was the most impactful in recent fantasy memory, but the Saquon Barkley situation now is a safe bet for still great fantasy production with the best offensive line in the league, and a mobile quarterback that defenses are going to worry about. So people are going to worry about the curse’s impact, but I think Barkley is going to be fine this upcoming season and will still be one of the top running backs in fantasy this upcoming season.
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