The history of the ‘Madden Curse’ can be traced back to the late ’90s

Tom Brady on the cover of “Madden NFL 18.”EA Sports

On Friday it was announced that Tom Brady would be on the cover of EA Sports’ “Madden NFL 18,” the latest version of the popular video-game franchise.

Much like the popular Sports Illustrated-cover curse, the Madden video game has its own eyebrow-raising history: the “Madden Curse.”

Ever since athletes began appearing on the cover of Madden in the late ’90s, they seem to almost immediately lose significant amounts of playing time because of injuries, run-ins with the law, or other reasons.

Below we document the long history of the “Madden Curse,” with some help from NFL.com and DigitalTrends.com.