When news broke that Philadelphia Eagles 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley was going to be on the cover of Madden 26, it drew reactions from all over the sporting world.
Some fans saw it as a victory lap for one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, others questioned the decision to shoot some footage at Geno's, and others still worried if Barkley could fall victim to the fabled “Madden curse,” which has taken more than a few players down after incredible campaigns.
Well, while discussing the news on his namesake show, Rich Eisen shot any jinx worries down, letting fans know that Barkley and the Eagles are simply too good to be taken down by superstition.
“I am going to tell you that this team is so damn good, there will be no jinx,” Eisen declared. “I am just telling you right now. There’s too much good stuff.”
Later on his show, Eisen commented on Barkley's 2025 potential further, once again blasting any notion that the Eagles will underperform because of a video game cover.
Article Continues Below“They make the playoffs, there’s no jinx. They’re not going to go like 8-9, 7-10,” Eisen noted. “That’s the jinx, the jinx is like you're hurt, the whole season is in the tank. They’re not getting jinxed. I don’t know if they’re going to the one seed with 11-6, that’s for sure.”
To be fair, fans who are worried about a Madden curse do have some reason for concern; the last two cover stars did underperform versus expectations, with Christian McCaffrey missing a ton of time last season due to injury, and Josh Allen coming up short of his Super Bowl pursuit in 2023. Players like Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr., and Richard Sheman also fell victim to the Madden curse, and Peyton Hillis was famously out of the league entirely while fans could still buy his Madden cover off the discount rack at GameStop.
Will Barkley and the Eagles come up short in 2025? Or will the reigning best team in the NFL from 2024 continue that trend this fall? While only time will tell, it's safe to assume that the Madden curse will be a topic of conversation in the City of Brotherly Love this fall.