I think that people are so defensive of the jinx that they manufacturing ways to smear a player's season. Nothing happened to Ray Lewis in the 2004 season after he was on the cover for Madden 05 (yes, it's confusing how they release the games a year too early). People made the excuse that he was injured in the season after that. Calvin Johnson had a record setting season after he was on the cover, and now people are saying he was cursed because he had a few broken fingers? Also, wasn't Drew Brees on the cover a few years ago? I don't seem to remember him having a down year.

This is the way I see it: they usually pick skill position players or scrambling QB's. Obviously, everybody knows that those are the positions that are injured the most. Also, they pick players at the height of their game. They only have one place to go from there. Moreover, some of the picks are even questionable. Vince Young, Hillis, Culpepper?