Madden NFL 15 cover vote underway; here are your 16 candidates

With the beginning of the 2014-2015 NFL draft, EA has kicked off the Madden NFL 15 Cover Vote. Unlike last year's anniversary edition, Madden NFL 25, which had a total of 64 candidates (32 new-school stars and 32 old-school legends), the choice for Madden NFL 15 cover athlete has already been whittled down to just 16 players.

They are: Richard Sherman, Alshon Jeffery, Jimmy Graham, Eddie Lacy, Demaryius Thomas, Luke Kuechly, Colin Kaepernick, Nick Foles, Cam Newton, Antonio Brown, Jamal Charles, A.J. Green, LeSean McCoy, T.Y. Hilton, Andrew Luck, and Alfred Morris. Below are the matchups for the first round.

"The Madden NFL Cover Vote is always a special time of year," said EA Senior Director of North American Marketing Randy Chase. "I'm curious to see if the 12th Man can propel Richard Sherman to the cover, or if the 49ers fans get their revenge and knock him out of the competition. No matter what, there are going to be some great matchups and intense rivalries."

Voting for the Madden NFL 15 cover athlete is officially underway. You can vote once per day at ESPN.com's Madden Vote page. Every Thursday, the results of each round of voting will be announced during NFL Live at 4:00pm ET on ESPN. The final winner will be announced from LA LIVE Plaza in a special segment during the 6:00pm hour of SportsCenter on Friday, June 6.

Madden NFL 15 is set to release for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, and PS3 on August 26.