Madden 2013 Cover: Popular Video Game Needs Calvin Johnson to Win Vote

Calvin Johnson is the best wide receiver in the NFL. He turned into an icon thanks to a brilliant 2011 season that saw the birth of "Megatron" and proved that wide receivers can call attention to themselves while still being a great teammate. 

It is for those reasons and so many more that Johnson deserves to be on the cover of the Madden NFL 13 video game. His opponent is Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

The voting is still open on SportsNation until Wednesday, but the choice should be so obvious that wasting time clicking your mouse would be a pointless exercise meant to merely delay the inevitable. 

Don't get me wrong, Newton is a great player who will have a long, prosperous career filled with many awards, accolades and championships. 

The problem is, Johnson is on the verge of doing things at his position that we rarely, if ever, get to see. He is a freakish physical specimen who could be mistaken for a mack truck, yet here he is playing wide receiver for the Detroit Lions. 

It takes a lot for fans to stand up and notice a wide receiver's accomplishments on the field, unless you are a transcendent star like Jerry Rice or, at least as far as talent goes, Randy Moss. 

Johnson is approaching that territory thanks to 49 touchdown catches, 5,872 yards and 16.0 yards per reception in his five-year career. There is no receiver in the NFL today who can match that production, not even Larry Fitzgerald or Andre Johnson. 

Plus, the Madden video games have never put a wide receiver alone on the cover. Fitzgerald did share the honor with Troy Polamalu in 2009.

Who better to represent the position, the sport of football and EA Sports than Johnson? It is time for the fans to recognize what a wide receiver can do and give "Megatron" the spotlight he so richly deserves. 

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