All Articles: Madden NFL 25

The third round of the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote is in the books and the top-seeded players continue to rumble towards the deciding round. But there were a few upsets of note.

Over on the “New School” side, the fourth-seeded Arian Foster ran over 49ers quarterback (and number one seed) Colin Kaepernick. To be fair, Kaepernick probably wasn’t deserving of the number one seed in a fan-voted contest. In another upset, Third-seeded Russell Wilson pushed past Andrew Luck, the two seed. On the “Old School” side, things are as they should be with Joe Montana (#1), Jerry Rice (#1), Barry Sanders (#3), and Deion Sanders (#2) all advancing to the quarterfinals.

You can the remaining matchups below. And don’t forget to vote for your favorites in quarterfinals at ESPN.com/MaddenVote. Voting is open now through April 10.

Old School
1 Joe Montana vs 3 Barry Sanders
1 Jerry Rice vs 2 Deion Sanders

New School
4 Arian Foster vs 3 Russell Wilson
1 Robert Griffin III vs 2 Adrian Peterson

Madden NFL 25 will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27.

I know it happened on Wednesday, but the higher seeds dominated the final voting in the second round of the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote. Michael Strahan on the Old School side and Ray Rice on the New School side were the only players ranked as the 5th seed or lower able to break through.

That means all-time greats Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ray Lewis, Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, and Dan Marino all live to see another day. They’re joined by Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III, Adrian Peterson, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Rob Gronkowski, and Arian Foster from the New School side.

Any one of these players would make a deserving Madden cover athlete. And you can cast your round three votes at ESPN.com/MaddenVote now through April 3. Be sure to check out the round three matchups after the break. (more…)

The first round of voting for the Madden NFL 25 cover athlete is in the books and it went more or less as you’d expect. In the New School bracket, Adrian Peterson won his first round match in decisive fashion, garnering 94% of the vote against Carson Palmer. And over on the Old School side, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders both put up impressive numbers, flattening Fred Taylor and Cortez Kennedy, respectively.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that all three will make the final four.

ESPN has updated the brackets and voting for the second round is now open until Wednesday, March 27. You can head over to ESPN.com/MaddenVote to vote and be sure to check out all the second round matchups after the break. (more…)

The initial bracket for the 64-man Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote debuted last night on ESPN2’s SportsNation. The bracket is divided into “Old School” and “New School” divisions, ensuring the final round will pit a former star versus one of today’s best players.

Jerry Rice won the play-in round against Chris Carter, so he’s been slotted in as one of the #1 seeds in the “Old School” division. His 49ers teammate, Joe Montana, has received the other. Over on the “New School” side, Colin Kaepernick (another 49er) and Robert Griffin III are the #1 seeds.

While most of the “New School” picks make a lot of sense, some of the guys on the “Old School” side are just baffling. For example, Reggie Wayne is still an active player. As are Jake Delhomme and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson (technically). And Ron Rivera? Sure, he was an OK player, but where’s Bo “The Greatest Video Game Athlete Ever” Jackson?

Madden NFL 25 will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27. First round voting is open now at ESPN.com/MaddenVote and will continue through Wednesday, March 20. The winner will be crowned on Wednesday, April 24.

Hit the jump to view the complete Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote bracket. (more…)

The Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote officially begins next Monday (March 11), but EA Sports and ESPN’s SportsNation launched the vote-by-Twitter play-in round today. The first matchup is Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice versus newly-minted Hall of Fame wide receiver Chris Carter. You can make your selection by tweeting a message of support to Rice (with the hashtag #Madden25Rice) or Carter (with the hashtag #Madden25Carter) now:

The #MaddenCoverVote Play-In starts NOW: Vote for @jerryrice w/ #Madden25Rice or @criscarter80 w/ #Madden25Carter! twitter.com/EAMaddenNFL/st…

— EA SPORTS Madden NFL (@EAMaddenNFL) March 4, 2013

This year’s Madden Cover Vote will include 32 current players versus 32 all-time greats with one of each facing off in the final round. While no one’s seen the final bracket yet, I have to ask, how was Jerry Rice not an automatic pick? The man wasn’t just a great wide receiver, he was the greatest wide receiver.

Of course, Carter is an ESPN analyst (and one of Chris Berman’s favorite players), so I suppose that explains Carter’s challenge of Mr. 80.

After teasing us yesterday with the above image, EA Sports has officially announced this year’s version of Madden NFL Football. But instead of carrying the name Madden NFL 14 like we all expected, the game will instead be known as Madden NFL 25 in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary. This is really going to confuse people when the year 2024 rolls around.

“There’s no better way to celebrate and mark the culmination of 25 years of innovation than by naming this year’s game Madden NFL 25,” said Cam Weber, General Manager of American Football for EA Sports. “This year’s game will push the boundaries with gameplay and feature innovations that will lay a very strong foundation for the next 25 years of this storied franchise.”

EA also announced that this year’s Madden Cover Vote will begin on March 11. For Madden NFL 25, the team at EA Tiburon is going back in time to pit 32 NFL legends against 32 current players. Like last year, the bracket will be unveiled live on ESPN2’s SportsNation.

Madden NFL 25 is in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and will be released on August 27.

Stop the presses! EA Sports has announced that Madden NFL 14 will be released on August 27. Giving the green light to another Madden game was surely a tough decision for company executives, but they’ve decided to give the team at EA Tiburon another chance.

Madden NFL 14 will be the 25th annual release in the series, stretching all the way back to 1989’s John Madden Football. In fact, EA is even asking gamers to “Check back soon for more details regarding Madden 25.” So it might not be known as Madden NFL 14 at all.

I wonder how John Madden wants to celebrate his silver anniversary? I’m guessing with a nice, juicy piece of turducken.