CURSES: Will Brees be the next to fall victim to Madden game?

The NFL Draft is finished and the Saints are welcoming a slew of new players to their Super Bowl Champion roster.

But something else happened during the week, and it’s far more important than any first or third round selection will be to the team’s 2010-11 success.

Drew Brees was named to the cover of Madden 11 Thursday.

I know you’re thinking that’s not exactly a “Stop the Presses” moment, but it definitely is.

I’m not saying Drew Brees has gone Hollywood and he will no longer be focused on football, because he’s going to be on the cover of arguably the world’s most popular video game.

I’m not trying to hint that at all. I fully suspect Brees to be as focused as ever coming into the new season, because – that’s just the player he is.

But you see, dear friends, there is this little curse that’s been going on since either 1999 or 2001 (depending on which historian you believe), and I think it’s one you Saints fans should probably take note of.

Once upon a time, there was a little running back for the Tennessee Titans named Eddie George.

Little, innocent Eddie was a phenomenal player, and he rushed for more than 1,500 yards in the 2000 season, earning him the dubious distinction as the cover boy of the Madden franchise.

The popular game had been around long before 2000. It actually started in 1992 and quickly gained steam to become definitely the highest selling and arguably the best sporting video game franchise of all time. Prior to George, Garrison Heart and Barry Sanders were on the cover in 1999 and 2000. Hearst struggled with injuries the remainder of his career and Sanders abruptly retired prior to his cover season.

Little Eddie was probably so excited to be on the cover, and it was obviously regarded as still quite an honor at the time. But several injuries later, George’s 2001 season was the worst of his career, leaving him as a forgotten in the ranks of NFL lore. He was never the same again.

Some people took wind of Hearst and Sanders’ struggles and said this was no coincidence. They hinted it was being the cover boy that made George struggle. But still others cited age. So to prove to the world that there is no such thing as spooks, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Dante Culpepper opted to be the cover boy in 2002. Culpepper landed on the cover as the hottest of the hot superstars in the league. But the year he was on the cover, he fumbled 21 times and threw 23 interceptions. He, like George, was never heard from again.

And then there was Marshall Faulk.

Faulk was arguably the hottest of the bunch and he had scored 26 touchdowns in one season in 2000.

That type of player is sure to be one immune from curses, right?

Wrong.

Faulk rushed for just 800 yards the season he was on the cover and he saw his production decline every year following that until his eventual retirement.

Retirement wasn’t an issue for the next cover boy, 2004’s choice, young Michael Vick. But injuries sure were and Vick missed the first 10 games of the season with a broken leg in 2004 and that was all before he pleaded guilty to funding a dog fighting ring – a crime that kept him in prison for more than a year.

After Vick, countless others have tried and have had the same result.

• 2005 Cover boy = Baltimore Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis

2004-05 season = Lewis missed 10 games due to injury and didn’t make the Pro Bowl for the only time in his storied career.

• 2006 Cover boy = Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb

2005-06 season = Torn ACL in Week 11; recently sentenced to a minimum 1-year stay with one of the NFL’s arm pits, the Washington Redskins.

• 2007 Cover boy = Seattle Seahawks halfback Shaun Alexander

2006-07 season = Alexander fractured his toe and played just 10 games that season. That injury-plagued season was the downfall of the power back’s career. He was eventually released from the team after the following season – just two years into an eight-year contract.

• 2008 Cover boy = Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young

2007-08 season = Young started the preseason with a one-game suspension for breaking team rules and he finished the season with eight more interceptions than touchdowns. Young has since been injured, been on suicide watch (literally) and deemed himself the next African American quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Although, let’s give him credit, he did recover and play well in 2009, so maybe there is hope.

• 2009 Cover boy = New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre

2008-09 season = Favre was on the cover of the game as a Packer, because he was supposed to be retiring and he was selected as the cover athlete as a way to honor his career. But he came back and played with the Jets that season and while he didn’t miss a game with an injury, he hurt his shoulder late in the season, which contributed to him throwing a league-high 22 interceptions.

• 2010 Cover boys = Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald

2009-10 seasons = Polamalu was injured for most of the season with a variety of ailments, most notably a torn MCL he suffered in the opening game of the season. Fitzgerald played all 16 games and was healthy, but he caught for nearly 350 fewer yards in 2009-10 than he did in 2008-09.

• 2011 Cover boy = New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees

2010-11 season = TBD

So that’s how the story goes and I will not disclose whether or not I am a believer in spooks or curses.

But I can tell you I am a big believer – and Saints fans should be a wee-bit nervous right now, because they are fighting what appears to be a decade of bad luck.