The Madden cover curse might not be real, but if enough people believe it to be true, then it might be. This is where Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba comes in. He is among the favorites, according to NFL writer Bobby Kownack, to land on the 2027 cover of the EA Sports game.
Among the other favorites are former Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett, and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. Not that wanting any player to get injured is a good thing, but maybe Stafford will simply choose to retire, and that will prove the Madden hex.
Kownack notes in a recent article predicting the cover, "Here's where any concerns over a curse would enter the equation for the 12s, Sam Darnold could certainly be in play after his Hollywood-style comeback from castoff to champion, but Smith-Njigba feels like the top Seahawks option."
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba might have to avoid the Madden 27 cover curse
The curse "began" with the 99 cover, which featured running back Garrison Hearst, who broke his fibula in the following season's playoffs and was never the same. That includes him missing the two seasons after that.
Of the 27 players to have appeared on the cover, 16 have suffered injuries soon afterward. One exception is Barry Sanders, who, instead of getting injured in the season that followed him on the cover, decided to retire. That is what the hope here is: what will happen with Stafford.
Recently, the hex hasn't been as bad, though Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers was on the cover for 25, and he was only able to play in four games during the 2024 season.
But what would a curse of Jaxon Smith-Njigba look like? Maybe if we say what could happen here, he will be perfectly fine for the Seattle Seahawks in 2026, assuming he makes the cover.
For one, the safe expectation, cover or not, is that he won't reach the crazy numbers he put up last season when he was named the NFL's defensive, I mean, Offensive Player of the Year. His 1,793 receiving yards last season were the eighth-best in league history, so no wide receiver would be expected to repeat those numbers from one year to the next.
JSN has also gotten dinged up a few times in his career, though he is pretty good at playing through pain. In other words, maybe he misses a game or two, and that's the extent of the curse.
Or maybe he is the kind of player to eschew the hex and has another elite season for the Seahawks. Maybe the Pacific Northwest is simply too chilly and drizzly for the curse. One thing 12s can likely all agree on, though, is that maybe Matthew Stafford is on the cover and calls it a career. Retirement would suit him well.
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