NFL Honors
Super Bowl champ Aaron Rodger is one of the 32 players selected by fans that will be entered in the EA Sports Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote contest to choose the player featured on the game cover. Rodgers is pictured at the inaugural National Football League Honors at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. Reuters

Electronic Arts and ESPN announced on Wednesday the 32 players selected by fans that will be entered in the EA Sports Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote contest to choose the player featured on the game cover.

The official Cover Vote bracket was released on Wednesday allowing fans to vote beginning Thursday, March 22 until April 25 in the five rounds. The Madden NFL 13 cover athlete will be unveiled on April 25, just one day before the 2012 NFL Draft.

The announcement comes after two weeks of fans voting, March Madness bracket style, in matchups between two NFL players on the SportsNation Facebook page.

Every football fan has an opinion on who should be on the Madden NFL cover, which was highly visible given the overwhelming response and debate that ensued during last year's campaign. We're proud to once again put the fate of the game's cover in our fans' hands and let them decide who is worthy of becoming the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete, director of marketing Anthony Stevenson said in a press release. Our collaboration with ESPN and SportsNation helped elevate the campaign to new heights last year and we're thrilled to team up again on this award-winning program.

This is the third year EA Sports had fans choose the Madden NFL cover, with over 13 million votes cast last year.

Sports fans are embracing the new structure of the Madden NFL 13 cover vote and the response has been tremendous for the play-in round, which gives each team's fans an increased voice in the player selected for the vote, ESPN vice president Jamie Horowitz said.

In addition to the Cover Vote bracket, ESPN 2 will air a SportsNation Madden Cover Vote Special at 6 p.m. EST on Wednesday along with coverage every Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. EST on SportsNation of the latest voting results.

Below is a full list of NFL players up for the Madden 13 Cover Vote:

Play-In Round Winners

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald Miami Dolphins Reggie Bush

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Atlanta Falcons Matt Ryan Minnesota Vikings Jared Allen

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice New England Patriots Rob Gronkowski

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Buffalo Bills Stevie Johnson New England Patriots Brandon Lloyd*

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Carolina Panthers Cam Newton New Orleans Saints Drew Brees

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Chicago Bears Matt Forte New York Giants Victor Cruz

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Cincinnati Bengals A.J. Green New York Jets Darrelle Revis

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Cleveland Browns Joe Haden Oakland Raiders Sebastian Janikowski

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Dallas Cowboys DeMarcus Ware Philadelphia Eagles LeSean McCoy

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Denver Broncos Tim Tebow Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson San Diego Chargers Antonio Gates

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers San Francisco 49ers Patrick Willis

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Houston Texans Arian Foster Seattle Seahawks Marshawn Lynch

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Indianapolis Colts Dwight Freeney Tampa Bay Buccaneers LeGarrette Blount

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Jacksonville Jaguars Maurice Jones-Drew Tennessee Titans Chris Johnson

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

Kansas City Chiefs Dwayne Bowe Washington Redskins Brian Orakpo

-------------------- ------------------ -------------------- --------------------

*Entered the Madden NFL 13 Cover Vote play-in round

representing the St. Louis Rams.

Facebook New York Tennessee Nfl draft