[Music] it has been a great last seven days for 49ers running back Christian mcaffrey last Tuesday he was given that two-year $38 million contract extension which reset the running back Market gave him some guaranteed money and today on Tuesday it was announced that Christian mcaffrey will be on the cover of Madden 25 as this year's cover athlete you're watching the San Francisco 49ers report by chat sports I'm Chase senior hope all of you out there are having a great Tuesday probably not as good of a Tuesday or last seven days as Christian mcaffrey but hey he's a stud he deserves this he's certainly earned it don't forget to hit that subscribe button by the way because whenever there's Niners breaking news and this classifies as that we talk about it right here on the show maccaffrey upon this announcement being made by EA Sports the the NFL the 49ers sending out a tweet as well mcaffrey tweeted Out quote lifelong dream come true with some prayer emojis this is a player who probably grew up playing Madden and idolizing some of the cover athletes as he was growing up as a football player wanting to be a professional and what a cool opportunity it is for him to Grace the cover as this year's cover athlete I mean you really have to be one of one it means that the season before you accomplish something very very special it also has to come down to you being somewhat marketable we have seen so many Marquee quarterbacks on the cover future Hall of Famers Running Backs from time to time and for Christian mcaffrey to be on this year's cover athlete it's cool for Niner fans to see him as the guy on the cover of Madden 2025 just an iconic video video game for generations and generations of course honoring the late great John Madden a great coach a great football analyst and somebody who did so much for the game of football as far as teaching us about it and spreading the popularity informing us about the game and just being a marquee face inv voice in the overall growth that we've seen of football over the last few decades and the decision to put McCaffrey on the cover of Madden 2025 an easy one he was the NFL rushing yards leader the 2023 offensive player of the year and now the Madden NFL cover athlete and you can pre-order it now it is going to come on August 16th of 2024 and as you can see here as we've been showing you the cover features him looking straight into the camera a determined look as so he's trying to break off a long run and fittingly I like this little wrinkle here he is running away from the Las Vegas Raiders defense in the background Raiders Niners a great rivalry and the Raiders they've just been a hapless Organization for so long the Niners a very successful Organization for so long haven't won a Super Bowl in a little while since that fifth but they have been to seven NFC championship games over the last 14 years Raiders been able to do that so for mcaffrey to run away from that Raiders defense I think that's a pretty cool wrinkle and I like the choice of going with maccaffrey on the Madden cover look he's been a tremendous player obviously the last two years the 49ers offensive MVP since they acquired him in that trade with the Carolina Panthers going into the deadline in 2022 in which the Niners only had to surrender a second third fourth and fifth round pick and you think about what goes into putting an athlete and a football player on the cover of Madden right you obviously have to be accomplished mcaffrey is he's now I believe a three or four time all proo he's a two-time All Pro at the Carolina Panthers a first team All Pro last year I think he wasn't all pro I can double check that after the trade from the Carolina Panthers let me just check on that information really quickly to see exactly how many all Pros he has to his name but the point here being that you have to be a very well accomplished player to be on the Madden cover he was not an all pro in 2022 but he was a pro bowler so he has four three all Pros to his name and then he has been a one two three four five Time pro bowler so either way you get the point of him just being a very accomplished player so you have to put up numbers but also on top of that he's a cool player right he's very marketable on and off the field has some good style has some good Swagger he's a good-look cat that helps you get on the cover of Madden right and he also has a pretty big brand the 49ers as an organization have a massive brand that stretches all across the country but also internationally because when the NFL was really starting to take off as far as popularity goes the ners were winning those Super Bowls under Joe Montana and Steve Young and they had Bill Walsh who was a very recognizable face at the head coaching spot in addition to having iconic quarterbacks iconic players too Jerry Rice Ronnie lot the list goes on and on and on So that obviously helps too but then pop culturally he's married to Olivia Copo they're getting married at some point in June I believe in Rhode Island so a lot of people who don't really watch football know who Christian mcaffrey is so I believe that goes into mcaffrey being on the Madden cover as well and I know a lot of people very worried about the Madden Curse let's hope and pray there is no Madden Curse for mcaffrey but I will say the usage from last year a little bit of a concern and if maccaffrey does get banged up this year I don't think it's a Madden Curse I think it's because there's been a lot of tread on the tires over the last couple of years you know he had a couple of injury plague Seasons with Carolina problematic hamstring issues and stuff like that soft tissue stuff and then he was able to stay healthy with Carolina Niners trade for him and he's been a very very durable player over the last couple of years for San Francisco and you think about the Madden cover history for consecutive years there it was John Madden who was gracing the cover 1991 he's on the cover 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 and 99 and then 2000 it's John Madden on the cover and that's a combination of him in a suit looking like a broadcaster having the headset on him as a head coach because he would wear a dress shirt and tie when he was a head coach and then you started to see some players get on the cover of Madden in 2001 it was Eddie George in 2002 Dante Co pepper 2003 Marshall Faulk 2004 Michael Vic 2005 Ray LS 2006 Donovan McNab 2007 sha Alexander 2008 Vince Young 2009 Brett Favre 2010 we had two players on there Troy palalo and Larry Fitzgerald 2011 Drew Brees 2012 was Payton Hillis I believe that was a fan vote at the time but the Cleveland Browns running back who was an iconic college player had like one good season in the NFL he was on the cover there in 2012 Calvin Johnson 2013 Barry Sanders in 2014 to celebrate 25 years of the Madden video game Richard Sherman as a Seahawk in 2015 Odell Beckham Jr one-handed grab in 2016 Rob gronowski in 2017 getting ready to spike it Tom Brady in 2018 that was the goat edition Antonio Brown in 2019 how far he's Fallen CTE SPN what up Patrick Mahomes 2020 Lamar Jackson in 2021 that was the MVP cover Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes as they went with dual athletes once again in 2021 John Madden for the all Madden Edition and that was kind of a throwback photo of John Madden thanks coach on the cover with a couple of x's and o's and so now it's going to be Chris M ay in 2024 on the cover of Madden this year and I mentioned it being you know a very good stretch here for mcaffrey over the last seven days he gets the extension and in 2024 gonna make a lot of money 2025 gonna make a lot of money 2026 2027 has a 19 million base salary and what he's been able to do with the Niners just tremendous in 2022 11 games played 159 rushing attempts 746 rushing yards 4.7 yards per carry six touchdowns and then in 2023 272 carries in 16 games almost 1500 rushing yards five and a half yards per carry and 14 touchdowns but then the receiving numbers crazy too right in 2022 in those 11 games played he had 52 catches in those 11 games as a running back 464 yards 8.9 yards per catch in four touchdowns and then in 2023 not used as much as a receiver the 67 catches in 16 games 564 receiving yards 8.4 yards per catch and seven touchdowns so congratulations to Christian mcaffrey for being put on the cover of Madden 25 a dream come true according to him we're going to be going live a little bit later here on the 49ers report you do not want to miss it 4:00 Eastern 1:00 Pacific a lot to break down on the ners front so we'll catch you then this is the San Francisco 49ers report [Music]