After their surprising success in 2024, the Washington Commanders will enter the new season poised to take the difficult step from promising upstart into league heavyweight.
They have the personnel to do it. Washington has an ownership group and front office that's not messing around, a coaching staff that built a winning culture on the field, and one of the league's brightest young superstars under center in Jayden Daniels.
The Commanders have some major challenges to overcome. The league's most formidable foe, and defending Super Bowl champion, resides within their division. But if the Philadelphia Eagles are going to maintain their leg up on Washington (and the field), they'll need to overcome some bad juju.
Commanders hope 'Madden Curse' strikes Saquon Barkley and the Eagles
Eagles' star running back Saquon Barkley will be the cover athlete of the popular video game Madden 2026. It's an honor that historically has been a harbinger of unfortunate fates for featured players and their teams.
Madden cover athletes have frequently been injured, underperformed, or otherwise found negative headlines (looking at you, Antonio Brown) during the following campaign.
Over the past few seasons, the curse has been especially cruel.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey played in only four games due to a multitude of injuries in 2024. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen led the NFL in turnovers in 2023. No player was on the cover in 2022 as Madden himself was honored following his death. But in the campaign prior, both Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady failed to reach the Super Bowl after facing off in 2020.
The last time a player featured on the Madden cover truly broke the curse by either receiving individual honors or appearing in the Super Bowl the following season was Mahomes in 2019. He was announced on the cover of Madden 2020 after his historic 2018 NFL MVP campaign, his first full year as a starting option, and the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Niners in Super Bowl LIV.
Even during that season, Mahomes' numbers dipped from 50 passing touchdowns in 2018 to 26, and he missed two games with a knee injury. Needless to say, this is not good news for Barkley, who had one of the NFL's all-time great rushing seasons in 2024 with 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Last season was Barkley's first in an Eagles uniform, and his success makes it hard to judge his career before that given how badly he was mismanaged by the New York Giants. Yet as it stands, 2024 is an outlier for his performance.
It was his first All-Pro selection in seven seasons, and his previous high in rushing yards was just over 1,300. For those who believe regression is in store, this will only add fuel to the fire.
As for the Commanders, it's a gift from the football gods.
