Barry Sanders Tackles Adrian Peterson To Win Madden NFL 25 Cover HonorsBarry Sanders has made history. The co-cover athlete of EA Sports NCAA Football 13 (along with Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III) is now keeping the Detroit Lions streak going in the first ever back-to-back Madden cover honors. Sanders beat out Minnesota Vikings running back, and reigning NFL MVP, Adrian Peterson, to follow Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson with the Madden honors.
“I am shocked, excited, humbled, elated. I am also proud to be the Madden 25 Cover athlete. The voter turn out in this program has been remarkable. And the fact that I won is pretty sweet, but very surprising and amazing,” Sanders tweeted.
The 44-year-old Sanders beat the 28-year-old Peterson with 58 percent of the 700,000 votes, getting some social media help from Tiger Woods and his 3.2 million Twitter followers. Sanders has been actively promoting his cover quest. In all, over 40 million votes were cast for this year’s record-breaking cover vote contest through ESPN SportsNation.
“Congrats to my guy Barry Sanders for winning the 2013 Madden Cover! Any other guy to take me down… it would’ve been a problem! Salute,” Peterson tweeted.
The NFL Hall of Famer has worked closely with EA Sports over the past years doing press interviews at the NCAA Football 13 cover event at last year’s NFL Draft and even suiting up for the NBC Sports Madden NFL 13 Pigskin Pro Am game. Earlier this year he attended the Madden Bowl in New Orleans to talk football, which you can see in the video below.
With Sanders retired, this should be an off year for the Madden Curse talk that usually surrounds whichever player is picked for the cover. Sanders is safe from getting injured on the field. For the record, Johnson had a great year for Detroit, breaking Jerry Rice’s NFL single-season receiving yards record. It’s nice to see such a great guy back in the spotlight again, just as EA Sports celebrates the silver anniversary for one of its most storied franchises.