Earlier this month, EA Sports in partnership with ESPN held their fourth annual "Madden NFL" Cover Vote. Sixteen latest NFL stars participated and battled in a bracket-style fan tournament to decide who would be the next cover of this year's "Madden NFL 15."

Just after four weeks of competition, there were already 9.6 million fan votes, the finalists were Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. It was declared that Sherman defeated Newton and would appear as the cover of the latest instalment of Madden, which was announced live on ESPN's Sports Center.

"Richard Sherman is a fantastic cover athlete selection by the fans," said Anthony Stevenson, Vice President of Global Marketing for EA SPORTS. "Defense is a big focus for Madden NFL 15, and Sherman is one of the brightest defensive stars in the NFL. He shares the same energy and passion for the game as our 'legion' of Madden fans."

Now, one of the big next steps in the process was Sherman taking his picture for the cover of Madden. Almost immediately after being declared as the new and latest cover athlete, Sherman went directly to EA Sports to grab the magazine made.

Many things are needed in this process and perfection is constantly tried to be attained. For example, the right look, the right posture and the right atmosphere must be perfected. They may have even burnt incense to get the right chi in the room. After all the hard work and perspiration made in the cover vote and shoot, EA Sports has finally released the cover of Madden NFL 15 featuring Richard Sherman.

Now that the cover was already identified and made public, EA Sports will officially start to release information about Madden over the next few weeks.

If you wish to see Richard Sherman's exclusive behind the scenes of the photo-shoot and what transpired on the set you can click here.

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