Mark Sanchez is in the running to be on the cover of the next Madden game, and while I’m all for it, Brian Bassett is a bit concerned about the “Madden Curse.”

You, me and Bassett all know that curses don’t really exist, but it struck me that maybe the curse in question has nothing to do with the video game and everything to do with the rigors of life in the NFL.

So, following Brian’s lead, I went back and checked on all the recent Associated Press NFL MVPs to see if they fell victim to a similar curse. For the purposes of this list, I started with 1998 because it’s an arbitrary endpoint perfectly suited to prove my point.

Here we go. The year listed is the season for which the player was given the MVP award. The description that follows is what happened to him the following season:

• 1998, Terrell Davis: Tore his ACL and MCL in the fourth game of the 1999 regular season. Played in only 13 more games in his NFL career.
• 1999, Kurt Warner: Broke his hand in the middle of the 2000 season, missed five games. Returned for playoffs but lost in the Wild Card round.
• 2000, Marshall Faulk: Still mostly awesome in 2001, but missed two games due to a sprained MCL in October, the first of a series of knee problems that would plague the latter parts of his career.
• 2001, Kurt Warner: Got off to a terrible start in 2002 then broke his finger and wound up missing 10 games.
• 2002, Rich Gannon: Suffered a shoulder injury that ended his 2003 season after Week 7.
• 2003, Peyton Manning (tie): Still awesome in 2004; won another MVP.
• 2003, Steve McNair (tie): Suffered a bruised sternum in the third game of his 2004 season, played in only eight games.
• 2004, Peyton Manning: Still awesome in 2005.
• 2005, Shaun Alexander: Broke foot in Week 3 of 2006, missed six games.
• 2006, LaDainian Tomlinson: Still very good for 2007 regular season, but bruised his knee in the playoffs and could carry the ball only five times in an AFC Championship loss.
• 2007, Tom Brady: Tore knee ligaments in Week 1 of the 2008 season, missed the remainder of the year.
• 2008, Peyton Manning: Still awesome in 2009; won another MVP.
• 2009, Peyton Manning: Still awesome in 2010.

Note that the only player to win the award and appear on the cover of Madden for the same season is Alexander. So is the AP NFL MVP award also cursed? Is Peyton Manning, perhaps thanks to some Louisiana mojo, the only player immune?

Perhaps, but I doubt it. I’m sticking with my guns here: Playing in the NFL is really, really hard on the body. It is among the reasons the life expectancy of NFL players is 52, and why it is an utter travesty that the league only provides health insurance to players for five years after they retire.

Manning is a massive outlier in terms of durability, style of play and, probably, luck. The rest of these guys all fell victim to the exact same curse that haunts Madden cover boys: The “Playing in the NFL Curse.”