Even though the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl last season, and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was named Offensive Player of the Year, no member of the organization will don the cover of EA Sports' Madden 27. Instead, that honor will go to Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
While some might view this as a bit of disrespect toward the players and team in the Pacific Northwest, this could be a good thing. Whether anyone truly believes that the Madden cover curse is a real thing or not, the fact is that soon after being on the cover, often bad things have happened to those who were selected to be there.
Seattle has been bitten by the curse before. That happened to running back Shaun Alexander, who made the cover after winning MVP in 2005. In Week 3 of the following season, he broke his foot. He would never come close to the kind of productivity he had in his first few years with the Seahawks again and was out of Seattle after the 2007 season.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks not honored with the Madden 27 cover (that's good)
Last season, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made the cover, and while he missed just one game with an injury, he was far off his numbers from the previous season.
For Madden 25, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey had the honor of being on the cover, but he followed that by only being available for four games, and his team greatly underwhelmed. No one, of course, wants that for Jaxon Smith-Njigba and his Seattle Seahawks.
The Madden curse, which is all superstition, obviously, though one with a long history, might not be real, but players might also have that in the back of their minds, too. They are helping sell a game with their image, but they don't want that to come at their expense during the season.
This isn't hoping that Caleb Williams gets injured, either. He's a great young talent and good for the league. The hope here is that he doesn't have a great season, however, because his Bears could be a threat to the Seahawks in the playoffs, assuming both teams get there.
Instead, with no face on the cover of Madden 27, maybe JSN has the same kind of season he had last year when he led the league in receiving yards with 1,793. The Seahawks will probably need something akin to that production to be in a position to compete for a title again.
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