Buzz around the "Madden Curse" lost much of its steam when Calvin Johnson landed on the cover in 2012 and soon after in the record books.
However, one could argue that Richard Sherman beating out Cam Newton for the latest Madden cover still carries some stigma, especially after Peterson's 800-plus rush yard dropoff following last year's cover.
Curses are crazy, but let's rank the misfortune each cover star has suffered since John Madden began yielding the cover to players starting with Madden 2001 for the 2000 NFL season, stopping just short of making any predictions from Sherman's endorsement of Madden 15.
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Below is a ranking of the power of the 'curse' each year, and how hard it struck.
14) Calvin Johnson, 2012 season: Megatron stands as the sole player to escape the curse unscathed this millennium, which is an understatement considering he shattered the single-season receiving record.
13) Eddie George, 2000 season: Enjoyed a good 2000 campaign by topping 1,500 rush yards on an absurd 403 carries, but a pass did glide off him and into the hands of Ray Lewis during a pivotal moment in the Titans' divisional-round loss at home to the Ravens.
12) Troy Polamalu, Larry Fitzgerald, 2009 season: Polamalu missed all but five games and Pittsburgh missed the playoffs in their Super Bowl defense. Fitzgerald mitigates this by holding the throne as the NFL's best receiver that year.
11) Adrian Peterson, 2013 season: Poor quarterback play gave him stacked boxes and injury ended his season far short of the single-season rushing record for which he publicly aimed.
10) Vince Young, 2007 season: Young's numbers didn't dip too much relatively but his performance in 2007 failed to cement his job for the future.
9) Drew Brees, 2010 season: Topping 4,600 yards is nothing to sneer at, though losing as massive favorites in the wild-card round with a Beast Mode exclamation point is probably a tough way to enter the offseason.
8) Ray Lewis, 2004 season: Lewis held the throne as the league's best defensive player until his health and defense around him crumbled following the Madden cover. Obviously, each would bounce back eventually.
7) Marshall Faulk, 2002 season: Would rank far lower on this if not for the sublime MVP form of 2001 that he had to follow. His injuries and decline coincided with that of the "Greatest Show on Turf."
6) Peyton Hillis, 2011 season: His total yards fell by more than half before bouncing into free agency.
5) Brett Favre, 2008 season: Exited Green Bay to join New York in 2008, planting seeds for a rough final stage in a great career.
4) Daunte Culpepper, 2001 season: Led the Vikings to NFC championship games in his first year as starter in 2000, but regressed during an injury-shortened 2001 campaign in which Minny missed the playoffs.
3) Donovan McNabb, 2005 season: Guided Philly to Super Bowl appearance in 2004; struggled with a sports hernia and constant ribbing from Terrell Owens in 2005 as Philly went 6-10.
2) Shaun Alexander, 2006 season: Set the single-season touchdown record en route to Most Valuable Player honors in 2005, but in 2006 saw a broken foot in Week 3 follow with precipitous decline toward end of career.
1) Michael Vick, 2003 season: Suffered a broken leg right shortly after appearing on Madden cover, missing 2003 season.
?) Richard Sherman, 2014 season: No indicators of decline thus far, so any major dropoff in 2014 would be shocking.
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