Fifteen years after retiring from the NFL, Barry Sanders remains as popular as ever.
The Hall of Fame running back won an online vote to grace the cover of the “Madden 25 NFL” videogame.
The final tally was announced on ESPN2’s “SportsNation” show Wednesday. Sanders, a former Detroit Lions star, got 58 percent of the votes in a final showdown with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.
A 64-player bracket was created to choose the cover model for the popular game’s 25th edition, with half “old-school” (retired) players and half “new-school.”
En route to the honor, Sanders won head-to-head votes against Ron Rivera, Marcus Allen, Ray Lewis, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
Peterson beat Carson Palmer, LeSean McCoy, Rob Gronkowski, Robert Griffin III and Arian Foster.
Last year, wide receiver Calvin Williams graced the Madden cover, meaning the Lions will be represented in consecutive years — a nice honor for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since January 1992.