Madden 13 Cover Vote: Rob Gronkowski and the Five Most Deserving Candidates

Here's my criteria for making the cover of Madden NFL 13: A player should be coming off an excellent 2011 season, that player should be marketable off the field and they should have a personality that makes them a natural fit for the cover of a video game.

This should be fun, after all.

I've identified five players that I think are most suited to grace the cover given my personal criteria. Feel free to cast your vote for who you want to see on the cover in the comments.

5. Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

2011 Season: Newton had an awesome 2011 season, throwing for 4,051 yards, rushing for 706 yards and scoring a combined 35 touchdowns in his rookie season. In a word, Newton was incredible.

Marketability: Not quite yet. He'll be a household name soon enough, but for now he's mostly known by NFL fans.

Personality: Newton has a natural (and justified) swagger that doesn't rub people the wrong way. It seems more steeped in confidence and a competitive spirit than simple arrogance. He'll be on the cover some day, but I don't think this is his year.

4. Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions

2011 Season: News flash—Calvin Johnson is really good. All he did last year was catch 96 passes for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns, many of them spectacular grabs over double coverage. Johnson is the game's best receiver, and it's not close.

Marketability: Did I mention he was the best receiver in football? Like Newton, however, Johnson lags behind the next three guys in the marketability department.

Personality: He has the best nickname in football, Megatron. But Johnson isn't your standard diva that the position seems to breed, which actually works against him in this context. If the criteria was freakish athletic ability, nobody in the NFL would have him beat. But it's not, so Johnson is No. 4 on my list.

3. Tim Tebow, QB, New York Jets

2011 Season: On the one hand, Tebow led the Denver Broncos to the playoffs last year after taking over as the starter for the team. On the other hand, he had a 46.5 completion percentage. His on-field success isn't why he makes this list.

Marketability: Good lord, yes. There are people who have never watched a football game that know his name after last year.

Personality: It's not so much Tebow's personality as it is the effect his presence seems to have on others that makes him such a great Madden candidate. Tebowing became a fad. Arguments and debate have been spurned about everything from Tebow's religious beliefs to his validity as a quarterback. Such a spectacle deserves the Madden cover.

2. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

2011 Season: He was the MVP—enough said.

Marketability: Can you say discount double check?

Personality: I like Rodgers a lot. He's diplomatic without being phony. He's competitive on the field but has a wry sense of humor off it. He doesn't seem to be fazed by much. I wish he was the quarterback for my team. Still, his personality can't quite compete with the last guy on this list.

1. Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots

2011 Season: You could make the argument that Gronkowski's 2011 was the best season a tight end has ever had. As if his 90 receptions for 1,327 yards weren't enough, his 17 touchdowns last season set an NFL record. He had as good a 2011 as any player in the NFL last year.

Marketability: Gronk's sense of humor and social media savvy make him extremely marketable as the cover of a video game, more so than anyone else on this list.

Personality: The dude is like a big kid who is just having a good time being a football player. He's the Gronk—he seems as likely to make a sick catch or plow over defenders as shotgun a beer or trash talk while he plays—you guessed it—a game of Madden. If there has ever been an athlete who had the right personality for the cover of Madden, it is Gronk.

He gets my vote. Who gets yours?

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