Madden Curse history: Why Super Bowl champs like Saquon Barkley are safe

Some people don’t do curses and superstitions. Those people are what society deems ‘well adjusted.’ For the rest of us, those curses and superstitions weigh heavily on a day-in, day-out basis. That’s especially true when it comes to Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays) in the Fall. 

Saquon Barkley is on the cover of Madden ‘26. That means that he gets to break the ‘Madden Curse’ allegations, and we get to spend the next four months convincing ourselves that it’s not real and the Philadelphia Eagles will be alright. In an attempt to do that, I bring to the table:

Super Bowl Champions v. The Madden Curse

The Madden Curse goes back to 1998 when 49ers running back Garrison Hearst was on the cover of the European version of Madden ’99. Hearst was having a pretty awesome season; he rushed for 1,570 yards and seven touchdowns, and had another 535 yards and two touchdowns through the air. It was a Pro Bowl season for him (back when the Pro Bowl used to mean something).

Everything was going great for him until the first snap of the game in the divisional round of the playoffs. He went to spin out of a tackle, but his toe got stuck under his body when he was coming down. He ended up jacking up his ankle really bad (don’t click on that if you’re an ’injuries are gross' person).

Something went wrong after surgery, and one of the bones in his foot died. It ended up knocking him out of the NFL for a couple of seasons, but he came back and justifiably won Comeback Player of the Year.

Since then, there have been 27 Madden games with 30 different players on the covers. Only five of those players were on the cover immediately after they won the Super Bowl: Troy Polamalu (Madden 10), Drew Brees (Madden 11), Richard Sherman (Madden 15), Tom Brady (Madden 18 and 22),  and Saquon Barkley (Madden 26).

This begs the question: Were any of those guys hit by the Madden Curse?

Troy Polamalu: 2009 season 

The Steelers beat the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, and in the season opener of the Steelers' 2009 season, Troy Polamalu messed up the MCL in his left knee. He ended up sitting out until Week 6, and then in Week 10, he re-injured it and missed the rest of the season.

The Madden 10 was kind of a cop-out because they had both Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald on the cover. That means the Madden Curse still existed, and it attacked the wrong guy (Fitzgerald went on to have a league-leading 13 receiving touchdowns during an All-Pro season). Curses are finicky like that. 

Drew Brees: 2010 season

The Saints beat the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, so 2010 was Drew Brees’ season to beat the curse, and he did just that. He didn’t miss any time during the season, brought his team to the playoffs with an 11-5 record, and ended up having the highest completion percentage in the NFL. 

Unfortunately, he also threw a career-high 22 interceptions that season, and the Saints got Beastquaked to death in the playoffs…but don’t let that take away from the fact that Drew Brees did, in fact, not have a curse in his Super Bowl defending season. 

Richard Sherman: 2014 season

In 2013, the Legion of Boom and the Seahawks annihilated the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII, so naturally Richard Sherman was on the Cover of Madden the next year. 2014 was a really good year for him: he got paid $56 million, was a Pro-Bowler and a first-team All-Pro cornerback, and had four interceptions in the regular season and two in the postseason. 

He did end up having to get Tommy John’s surgery, but that was because of something that happened in the Super Bowl, which they lost. When you have all those accolades and that good of a season, it's safe to say that he, too, was not cursed.

Tom Brady: 2017 season

In 2016, the Patriots came back from down 28-3 and beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI. It only took Brady 17 seasons in the NFL to make it onto the cover of Madden, so good for him. Ol’ Tommy boy had a good 2017 season. He led the league in passing yards, was the first-team All-Pro quarterback, and the NFL MVP. Not bad.

It was really great for him until it wasn’t — when Brandon Graham made the most important play in franchise history when he strip-sacked Tom Brady with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII, leading to the Eagles winning their first Super Bowl ever.

It’s safe to say that Brady also was not burdened by any type of curse in 2017… now he just has to fall asleep every night with BG’s cackle ringing in the back of his head. 

Tom Brady: 2021 season

In 2020, Tom Brady and the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV, which is actually just the second-most embarrassing Super Bowl loss the Chiefs have had (their most embarrassing loss was in Super Bowl LIX when the Eagles beat them 40-6). Both Brady and Patrick Mahomes made it on the cover of Madden 22.

2021 ended up being one of Brady’s best seasons. He led the league with 485 completions, 43 touchdowns, and 5,316 passing yards (which was a career-high as well). He ended up being a Pro-Bowler, an All-Pro, and was the runner-up for NFL MVP. No curse was to be seen.

Saquon Barkley: 2025 season

It’s hard to imagine that Saquon Barkley is going to have a better season than he did in 2024. He was only the ninth player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards, and no one has ever done it twice, let alone in back-to-back years. There are going to be people who say that he is cursed because he didn’t hit that number again, but those aren’t people that you should be listening to. 

History shows us that King Quan should be safe. Of the five Super Bowl winners-turned Madden cover guys, Troy Polamalu has been the only one who got smacked by the curse. If Barkley can make it out of Week 1 unscathed, then he’ll be good to go for another All-Pro season.