Christian McCaffrey Madden 25 cover: Why the Raiders?

Maxx Crosby or Davante Adams would be cool options to be the Madden cover players.

They, however, were not the choice of EA Sports for the Madden NFL 25 cover. Yet, the Raiders are still somehow featured on the cover and not in a great way.

EA Sports announced Tuesday that San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey will grace the Madden NFL cover, which of course, is named after the late Raiders’ Pro Football Hall of Fame coach John Madden. The company released the cover Tuesday and it shows McCaffrey blowing past beleaguered Raiders’ defenders.

It’s a cool shot, but there’s one problem. The scene never happened.

McCaffrey has only played the Raiders once as a 49er and it was in Las Vegas in Week 17 of the 2022 season. This photo shows a highlight from a 49ers’ home game.

So here’s the question: Why the Raiders?

The two teams are no longer Bay Area rivals and McCaffrey doesn’t have a huge history against the Raiders. He’s played against them twice in his career, once with the 49ers and once with the Carolina Panthers.

You would think EA Sports would pick a San Francisco rival for the cover shot such as an NFC West foe or the Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers.

But no, they went with a phony Raiders’ shot. Way to throw Madden’s team under the bus for no reason.