Christian McCaffrey has been selected to be the cover athlete for Madden 25. The San Francisco 49ers' running back ends the drought of running backs on the cover and adds another accolade to his decorated career.

McCaffrey is the first 49er ever on a Madden cover and the first running back to be the sole cover athlete since Peyton Hillis in Madden 12. CMC is the first running back to be on any cover since Barry Sanders was on the original cover of Madden 25 (the anniversary edition that was released in 2013) and Adrian Peterson was on the re-released edition. The 49ers star joins Shaun Alexander (Madden 07), Marshall Faulk (Madden 03) and Eddie George (Madden 01) as RBs to be cover athletes.

It's a well-earned honor for McCaffrey, one of the very best playmakers in all of football. But can his elusiveness pass the test of the Madden Curse?

All throughout the game's history, various players have befallen bad fates after being on the cover. Hillis, for example, saw his career fall off a cliff after receiving the honor. Antonio Brown demanded to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers after his cover season and his playing days also spiraled to an abrupt end. Faulk, Daunte Culpepper, Michael Vick and Rob Gronkowski all suffered injuries. Alexander and Vince Young were never as good in their post-cover seasons as they were before it.

Of course, some players like Ray Lewis, Calvin Johnson and Patrick Mahomes still ended up having great years despite their inclusion on the Madden cover. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero asked McCaffrey about the curse. He’s not sweating it at all and is just happy to be on the cover.

49ers' Christian McCaffrey not worried about Madden Curse

“I'm not superstitious at all about it,” McCaffrey said. “I was so excited, man. This was such an honor. When I first got the call, I was in shock. It's something that I just never thought would happen to me. I never thought that somebody would call and tell me I'm on the cover of Madden. So, when I got the call, I wasn’t thinking about any curse. I was just excited. I think that stuff is kind of myth and whatever happens happens. But I'm excited to be on the cover.”

Christian McCaffrey has been fortunately healthy for the last two seasons after playing just 10 total games in the prior two. The injury-prone label is gone but with the weird voodoo that comes with the Madden curse, now would be an especially bad time to go down with an injury. Hopefully, for his and the 49ers' sake, CMC can continue his good health luck.

Madden 25 will be released to the general public on August 16th with early access starting three days earlier.