ESPN Madden 15 Cover Vote: 1st round results, 2nd round matchups announced

The voting for the first round in the ESPN Madden Cover vote is over and the round of 16 players has been trimmed to eight with voting continuing until May 22nd.

First round winners with their percentage of the vote in parenthesis include:

Richard Sherman (73) who defeated Alshon Jeffery, Jimmy Graham (63)b eat Eddie Lacy, Luke Kuechly (51) narrowly got past Demaryius Thomas, Colin Kaepernick (57) edged Nick Foles, Cam Newton (80) cruised past Antonio Brown (the biggest margin of the first round), Jamaal Charles (52) beat A.J. Green, LeSean McCoy (77) knocked out T.Y. Hilton, but the Colts did see Andrew Luck (76) advance past Alfred Morris.

The second round matchups see Sherman vs. Graham, Kuechly vs. Kaepernick, Newton vs. Charles and McCoy vs. Luck.

You can vote here for your favorite remaining player to be on the cover of Madden 15. Voting in round two will last until May 22 with the semifinals lasting until May 30th and then then the finals will last from May 30-June 6th.

Based on the results from the first round I am predicting Sherman, Kaepernick, Newton advance with the closest vote perhaps going to the McCoy-Luck matchup.

Who do you think will end up as the winner of the vote to appear on the cover of Madden 15 and do you think there is any validity to the Madden curse?