For a time, there was a thought that the curse of the cover athlete was one of the most sure things in sports video games. Be it a big star suffering a brutal injury or a breakout star turning out to have already played their best-ever season, booking the cover of Madden or NBA 2K was often seen as a curse. While it’s true there is often some regression to the mean for athletes coming off cover-athlete caliber years, that’s not always true. Here are 10 athletes who were absolutely unstoppable during their cover years.
The 10 Most Dominant Cover Athletes of All-Time
Tom Brady (Madden 18, 2017 NFL Season)
2017 NFL Stats: 286.1 yards per game, 66.3% completion percentage, 32 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, First Team All-Pro, NFL MVP, AFC Champion
It should come as no surprise to football fans that the best offensive season by a Madden cover athlete came down to a battle between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes — the GOAT, and the man chasing him down. While Mahomes turned in a monster year after appearing on the cover of Madden NFL 22 (alongside Brady), you just can’t top the massive season Brady had while on Madden NFL 18.
Brady was Offensive Player of the Week three times, Offensive Player of the Month once, and earned First Team All-Pro honors to go with the crowning achievement of any individual season, an MVP award. Brady’s strong play translated to success on the field, where Brady led the Patriots to yet another Super Bowl appearance. While Brady and company fell short against an Eagles team led by Nick Foles (holler at the Philly Special), you can’t argue it wasn’t a phenomenal, curse-defying year.
Richard Sherman (Madden 15, 2014 NFL Season)
2014 NFL Stats: 4 interceptions, 8 passes defended, 57 tackles, First Team All-Pro
While offensive players often get all the glory, Richard Sherman made himself an undeniable NFL star with his strong defensive play and camera-ready personality. A key piece of the vaunted Legion of Boom defensive core that made the Seattle Seahawks a force in the 2010s, Sherman earned his spot on the cover by winning a fan vote.
The defensive back made good on the fans’ backing by turning in an All-Pro season in 2014 as the Seahawks once again proved themselves to be a league power. Sherman would lead the way for the league’s top scoring defense as the Seahawks made it all the way to the Super Bowl, where they faced off with the New England Patriots and fellow cover standout Tom Brady. Sadly for Sherman and the Seahawks, their bid for another title came up one yard short in one of the most famous and heartbreaking endings in Super Bowl history.
Connor McDavid (NHL 18, 2017-18 NHL Season)
2017-18 NHL Stats: 41 goals, 67 assists, 108 points, Art Ross Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, First Team All-Pro
If you’re looking to curse-proof your game’s cover, you can do a lot worse than booking one of the most purely talented players in hockey history. Connor McDavid arrived on the scene with the hype of being the latest to be labeled the next contender to Wayne Gretzky’s throne, and has since backed it up and then some.
By McDavid’s standards, 2017-18 isn’t a banner year as he’d post better numbers the next season, and much better numbers in recent ones. So, what does a pretty good McDavid season get you? Well, it gets you a league scoring title, Most Outstanding Player award, and being ranked as the top center in the league. Throw in that it marked an 8-point step up from his first 100-point season the year prior, and McDavid clearly produced one of the most successful cover athlete seasons ever.
Steven Stamkos (NHL 12, 2011-12 NHL Season)
2011-12 NHL Stats: 60 goals, 37 assists, 97 points, Rocket Richard Trophy Winner, Hart Trophy finalist, Second Team All-Pro center
To put McDavid’s performance in context, Stamkos makes this list easily and didn’t even crack 100 points in his NHL 12 cover season. What he did hit was the 60-goal mark. And while a recent scoring boom has seen this feat become more achievable than it used to be, Stamkos’ 60 goals made him just the third player in the current millennium to hit the mark.
One of the most talented scorers hockey has ever seen, Stamkos set personal records for goals, even strength goals, and game winning goals, making his office in the left circle more lethal than ever before or after. While his Tampa Bay Lightning team took a step back by missing the playoffs after being one game away from the Stanley Cup the year prior, Stamkos’ explosion laid the groundwork for what would become the most dominant team in the NHL over the next decade.
Kevin Durant (NBA 2K13, 2012-13 NBA Season)
2012-13 NBA Stats: 28.1 points, 4.6 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.3 blocks per game; All-Star, First Team All-Pro, MVP runner-up, league leading free throw percentage
The 2K series hedged its bets on picking a winner with NBA 2K13 picking three athletes to mixed effect. Blake Griffin was good, earning a Second Team All-NBA spot, while Derrick Rose’s year was a disaster, missing it all to injury and never truly finding his elite form again.
What about Kevin Durant, though? Well, his season pretty good, nearly winning league MVP while leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference. A multi-time Player of the Month that season, Durant was at his dominant best in 2012-13, posting a second straight MVP runner-up performance before winning it outright the next year. If there’s a curse to being on a cover, nobody told Durant who was dominant before, during, and after his stint.
Steph Curry (NBA 2K16, 2015-16 NBA Season)
2015-16 Stats: 30.1 points, 6.7 assists, 2.1 steals per game; .454 3-point percentage, league best free throw percentage, All-Star, First Team All-NBA, League MVP
Once again, 2K had multiple cover athletes for NBA 2K16. Only this time, all three had solid years. James Harden and Anthony Davis earned a few MVP and Defensive Player of the Year votes, respectively, but it was Curry who led the way.
Coming off his first MVP season, Curry could have had an incredible year and it still would have been a step back. Instead, he was even better. He improved his shooting percentage from long and short range. He recorded more steals per game. He shattered his prior scoring record, improving on it by a massive 26 percent. To cap it all off, Curry led his Warriors to their first NBA Championship, kicking off a run of five straight Western Conference wins and three NBA titles.
Andrew McCutchen (MLB The Show 13, 2013 MLB Season)
2013 MLB Stats: .317 batting average, .404 on base percentage, 21 home runs, 27 stolen bases, 7.8 WAR, NL MVP
In a city with a shared black-and-gold sports identity, the Pittsburgh Pirates have rarely been able to make their on-field results match the Steelers and Penguins as well as their jerseys do. In the last 20 years, there may be no player who has done more to make the Pirates watchable than McCutchen did, whose recent return to the franchise was met with joy by fans.
Coming off a then-best 6.9 WAR in a breakout season that saw McCutchen place third in NL MVP voting, it would have been easy to be another cover “bust” who fell back to just good after a stellar year. Instead, he had the best year of his career and won the National League MVP. McCutchen led the Pirates to a playoff appearance, taking the NL’s top seed and eventual National League Champion St. Louis the full five games before falling in the divisional series. And that’s still the peak of the Pirates’ run in the 21st century.
Shohei Ohtani (MLB The Show 22, 2022 MLB Season)
2022 MLB Batting Stats: .273 batting average, .356 on-base percentage, 34 home runs, 95 RBI, 3.4 WAR
2022 MLB Pitching Stats: 15-9 record, 2.33 ERA, 166 innings pitched, 219 strike outs, 6.2 WAR
Shohei Ohtani is a singular player who couldn’t avoid comparisons to the great Babe Ruth — that is until it was noted Ruth never actually matched the dominance of Ohtani with his hitting or pitching in the same season. Stranded at the time on an Angels team that had already been wasting one generational talent in Mike Trout, Ohtani’s success may not have led to many team wins, but it did produce the undeniably best performance by an MLB The Show cover athlete.
While his batting numbers dipped slightly from the seasons on either side of 2022, he still produced stellar numbers as a masher who could also steal the odd base. It was on the other side of the ball where he truly dazzled, however, posting 6.2 WAR as a pitcher while finishing runner up in AL Cy Young voting. On its own, it’s an incredible season. Combined with his work at the plate, it’s the mark to chase for all future cover athletes. It’s also clear he’s the best MLB The Show cover athlete of all-time.
Lionel Messi (FIFA 13-16, 2012-2014 Seasons)
2012-2016 Club Stats: 143 goals, 54 assists, 3 La Liga Titles, 1 Champions League Title, 2 Copa del Rey Titles, 2 Ballon d’Ors
How do you ensure you don’t pick a dud for your cover? Just get the greatest athlete to ever kick a ball on your cover four years in a row. Coming off the back of a 50-goal season, everything Messi accomplished in his four-year reign as one of EA’s cover athletes was technically a step down from the season that preceded them. But a small step back for Messi? That’s another world class player’s career year.
Over the course of four seasons, Messi averaged 35.75 goals, 13.5 assists, and 1.5 major trophies while with Barcelona. He was crowned the best player on the planet twice, and remained in a heated battle with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in a two-man race to be named top player, which went on for more than a decade. In international play, Argentina had not yet reached the dominant heights of recent years, but when your down years include a World Cup final and two Copa America finals in four seasons, you’re doing something right.
Anderson Silva (UFC Undisputed 3, 2012)
2012 UFC Results: Defended UFC Middleweight Championship by TKO, won third fight at light heavyweight
The UFC is not an organization that is famous for having dominant champions who are also models of stability outside the cage, so it’s not surprising that UFC games are not overflowing with triumphant cover fighters. While the likes of Brock Lesnar, Conor McGregor, and Ronda Rousey got on covers just in time to see their time atop the sport end, Anderson Silva saw his cover drop before the final successful year of his career.
Already riding a 14-fight winning streak, Silva got things going with his final successful defense of his UFC Middleweight Championship, besting rival Chael Sonnen with a second-round TKO. After a last minute triangle choke escape in their first meeting, the win was a definitive stamp on the rivalry. Four months later — while once again lacking a viable title challenger for his belt — Silva moved up a weight class for the third time and scored a first-round win for the third-straight time. While that win was his last before his 16-fight UFC unbeaten run snapped along with his own shin (if you’ve seen it, you can never unsee it), by the standards of other UFC cover athletes, the year is a clear and resounding success.
Although there are many cases of athletes failing to live up to the accomplishments that saw them earn a cover after getting there, these 10 athletes defied the odds and then some. This year’s stars would do quite well to replicate the performances put on by these past standard bearers.
Published: Jan 17, 2025 8:38 PM UTC