The popular football video game franchise "Madden" has named their cover athlete for the 2017 edition of the game. Rob Gronkowski.

Gronkowski (in his famous Gronk Spike pose) is the latest athlete to grace the madden cover. Which isn't always a good thing. The game developers might like to believe it's akin to a Wheaties box cover, but it's more like the SI cover jinx, or as some athletes call it "The Madden Curse".

Consider recent cover athletes in the last decade, Shaun Alexander (Madden 07), Vince Young (Madden 08), and Peyton Hillis (Madden 12) all had bad years performance wise after they appeared on the box art for the video game franchise. Going back farther, Eddie George only averaged three yards per carry after appearing on the 2001 installment.

After George, four of the next five years featured athletes who would be injured during their cover year. Daunte Culpepper (2002), Michael Vick (2004), and Donovan McNabb (2006) all suffered injuries that ended their season prematurely, while Marshall Faulk (2003) suffered an injury that prevented him from reaching 1,000 rushing yards.

It's not just injury and performance downgrades, sometimes athletes get into trouble with the law. Case in point Adrian Peterson (Madden 14) who was suspended for the last 15 games of the Vikings season that year on child abuse charges.

Maybe Gronk will beat the curse, he beats coverage assignments any time he's on the field, but the Madden Curse is a different beast all together.

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