Whether or not it’s a thing, don’t freak out about the Madden curse for Lamar Jackson:
Lamar Jackson has been officially named the cover athlete of EA Sports’s Madden 21 video game. It makes perfect sense that the most fun player to play with in the entire game of Madden will be the face of it’s next edition.
Now, the Ravens have to worry about the Madden curse, right? I’m knocking on wood when I write this, but I don’t think we should worry about it.
On any given play, any player can get hurt. Because Jackson is a quarterback and because he runs more than any quarterback in the league, the Madden curse seems more daunting for him. There have been a lot of Madden cover athletes who have gotten hurt or wound up having bad luck.
The sustainability argument against Jackson was already over played, this just makes it more of a conversation point. Get ready for it Baltimore, after the wave of stuff to talk about generated by the 2020 NFL Draft, there won’t be much to talk about.
Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson announced he will be on the cover of Madden 21.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 21, 2020
Patrick Mahomes was the cover of Madden 20. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The Madden curse doesn’t get everybody. The real thing we should be talking about is how deserving Jackson is. He’s the second unanimous MVP in NFL history. He led the league in touchdowns, proved everybody wrong about his arm and he’s still the most humble and hard working athlete on an NFL roster.
Jackson is the second Ravens player to make the cover of the game. Ray Lewis was on the cover of Madden 2005. Jackson is the unquestioned face of the Ravens franchise and he is the reason Baltimore has a chance to win a Super Bowl or two in the next handful of years. It’s very cool that the Ravens have gotten to a point where a star for the offense is the face of their franchise and the cover athlete of Madden.
This is a franchise that has wasted Super Bowl caliber defenses behind quarterbacks like Elvis Grbac and Kyle Boller. The Ravens won their first Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer. The Ravens have gone from Joe Flacco to Jackson. It’s hard to call them one of the most quarterback cursed teams at the moment, however when it’s been bad, it’s been brutal.
So congratulations to the MVP! Nobody deserves it more. Knock on wood just to be safe but let’s not give the Madden curse another thought.