Christian McCaffrey cements his legacy as one of the greats as he becomes the first RB since Barry Sanders to feature on the cover of Madden

McCaffrey becomes the first 49er to grace the cover of the game in 25 years.

Christian McCaffrey cements his legacy as one of the greats as he becomes the first RB since Barry Sanders to feature on the cover of Madden

Christian McCaffrey is the newest Madden cover athlete (via IMAGO. Image in bubble via EA Sports)

The suspense is over! EA Sports has finally unveiled the cover of its iconic football game, Madden 25. This year, the opportunity to grace the cover is given to Christian McCaffrey, the running back of the San Francisco 49ers. It is a well-deserved achievement for the running back, who has had yet another monumental season.

By getting featured on the cover of Madden 25, Christian McCaffrey becomes the first member of the San Francisco 49ers since Garrison Hearst, who was the cover athlete on the game in 1999. Hearst graced the International Edition of Madden that year and since that point forward, no Bay Area superstar has managed to be the face of the game.

Christian McCaffrey becomes the first running back to be featured in the game since Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson, who were the face of Madden in 2014. The folks at EA Sports have a special corner for giving this honor to quarterbacks in the past, after all, they are the face of the NFL. The last non-quarterback to be featured as a Madden cover athlete was Antonio Brown in 2018.

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Will Christian McCaffrey succumb to the Madden curse this season?

The game is set to release globally on the 16th of August. The reigning Offensive Player of the year had a phenomenal season this year. He was in contention to win the MVP Award after recording 21 touchdowns on 272 carries and totaled 1,459 yards. One of the reasons that EA opted to go with McCaffrey was owing to his popularity amongst fans.

NFL Madden 25
The new cover of NFL Madden 25 (via EA Sports)

He was the most popular running back on Madden 24 and was responsible for scoring over 450 million touchdowns. Mike Mahar, the senior production director of Madden NFL attributed EA Sports’ decision to pick him as the cover athlete to his remarkable style of play. The running back was exuberant after finding out that he would grace the cover of this game.

It's really a dream come true. I think this is something that I never really expected. When I got the call, it was such a great surprise. I was on cloud nine.
Christian McCaffrey said via USA TODAY Sports

The only hope that fans have is that the running back does not fall victim to the infamous Madden curse. The term Madden curse refers to the jinx that once a star player is featured on the cover of Madden, they tend to go downhill in terms of their output in the subsequent seasons. Some legendary players who fell victim to the curse are Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Drew Brees, Rob Gronkowski, and of course, Antonio Brown.

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