EA Sports on Tuesday will unveil the cover athlete for Madden NFL 25. That reveal should show that this year’s edition of the popular game will have 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey on the front.
There are strong arguments for a slew of other players, but McCaffrey makes the most sense out of all those players.
For starters, Madden has never had a 49ers player on its cover. Given the 49ers’ place in NFL history it’s pretty surprising they’ve never had a player on the front of the game.
McCaffrey is coming off an Offensive Player of the Year campaign where many credited him with the 49ers’ success even more than quarterback Brock Purdy. It showed in MVP voting where McCaffrey finished third behind Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
Jackson was just on the cover for the 2021 edition, and there hasn’t been a non-QB athlete on the front since Antonio Brown was on the 2019 version. The QB position matters a ton so it makes some sense there’s a heavy bent that direction, but this is also an opportunity to feature other players who impact the game.
It goes beyond just the QB aspect though. An active running back hasn’t been on the front since Adrian Peterson was on the 2014 version with Barry Sanders. There have been 10 editions of the game without a running back.
It’s time to put a RB back on the cover, especially one that’s the highest-paid RB in the league and just received an extension at a position where the financial value is falling around the league.
The 49ers were the No. 1 seed in the NFC and made the Super Bowl. Kansas City just had QB Patrick Mahomes on the cover in 2022. The 49ers should get some representation and McCaffrey is the player who makes the most sense. He’s the best player on the most loaded roster in football, and it’s high time RBs got some love again.
