Peterson had previously won the “new school” bracket of the voting by beating Houston Texans running back Arian Foster in the semifinals, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy. Sanders was actually one of the first athletes to be featured on the cover, appearing in blurry background form behind John Madden for the Madden 2000 game.
Now about that Madden cover jinx: Does it affect retired players? If so, the golf course just became that much more dangerous.