Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson square off in Madden NFL 25 cover vote finals

For NFL fans, April provides some much needed football talk during what feels like a never ending offseason. This week the NFL released the official schedules of each team and looking ahead we have the NFL draft where, for three days, we can all believe that our favorite team has a favorable future.

This week also marks the finals round for the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote. After several grueling weeks of fans voting on matchups between the greatest NFL players of the past and present, we are finally down to the two final players: Barry Sanders vs. Adrian Peterson. Seriously, this is about as great of a matchup as you could ask for.

Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson were/are NFL running backs, and are both considered among the greatest at the position. Although Sanders is now retired — having prematurely ended his career with the Detroit Lions (could you blame him?), Adrian Peterson is still very active for the Minnesota Vikings. Interestingly, both players managed to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and while Sanders is the third leading rusher in NFL history with 15,269 career yards, Peterson is quickly closing the gap. In six seasons in the NFL, Adrian Peterson has 8,849 rushing yards.

It's certainly not an easy decision, but I voted for Barry Sanders. Peterson is fun to watch, but there was just something about seeing Sanders run — oh god, the jukes and cutbacks — that make him one of the most memorable athletes to play the game. So now, the choice is yours: old-school legend or new-school star?

Voting for the cover is currently open at ESPN and closes on April 24th. The winner will be revealed that night on SportsNation at 8:00pm ET on ESPN2.