The Madden Curse is a urban legend/curse involving the eponymous NFL video game series developed by EA Sports.
While it is an honor to be chosen as the cover athlete for the games, it is alleged that injuries or poor performance plague those chosen to be on the cover. The curse had gotten so prolific that fans purposefully avoided voting their favorite players to be on the cover so that the curse would not befall them. The curse was essentially broken in 2020 when Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs and the cover athlete of Madden NFL 20, won the Super Bowl and was the Super Bowl MVP though he was injured in that season. However, other cover athletes such as Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Von Miller and Tom Brady were also seemingly not affected by the curse.