Will Cam Newton or Richard Sherman become the latest victims of the Madden curse?

Regardless of whether or not the so-called Madden curse does indeed exist, the competition to determine the cover athlete for Madden 15 has been narrowed down to the two contestants and the winner will be announced on Friday afternoon.

Ever since the video game series started featuring players on the cover in 2000, a number of the cover athletes have seen their seasons derailed by injury or disappointment. Daunte Culpepper (Madden 2002) threw a whopping 23 interceptions and ended up tying the record for the most fumbles in a season. Marshall Faulk (Madden 2003) never had another 1,000 yard season after becoming the cover athlete while Michael Vick (Madden 2004) never even made it to the regular season after breaking his fibula in the preseason.

However, it is not always a dead-end road for cover athletes. Some have even exceeded expectations during their season in the spotlight. Today we'll take a look back to see how cover athletes have fared in the last five seasons.

2013: Adrian Peterson

Although Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders graced the cover of Madden 25 when the game was first released to the general public on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Adrian Peterson was the cover athlete for the next-gen PS4 version. In typical Madden curse fashion, Peterson failed to live up to the high expectations during his 2013-14 campaign. He notched only 1,266 yards on the ground after rushing for 2,097 yards the previous season. The 29-year-old also lost more fumbles in 2013 than he had in any season since 2009. Considering that some cover athletes have gone down with season-ending injuries while others have struggled mightily to live up to the pressure that comes with the Madden cover, Peterson's season wasn't that disappointing.

2012: Calvin Johnson

Megatron shrugged off any talk of a Madden curse and ended up with a career-high in reception yards. While teams couldn't necessarily stop him from catching the ball, they did keep him out of the end zone. Johnson only had five touchdowns in 2012 after scoring a whopping 16 times in 2011.

2011: Peyton Hillis

Hillis was merely a one-year wonder in 2010 and just bounced back to Earth in 2011. Chalk it up as another case of the Madden curse if you wish, but the reality is that Hillis' 2011 numbers were about the same as any other season in his career besides his magical 2010 campaign.

2010: Drew Brees

Brees barely had time to enjoy his 2009-10 Super Bowl Championship when he was tabbed as the Madden cover athlete for the following season. With their star quarterback sitting in the Madden spotlight throughout the season, the Saints still managed to march through the regular season en route to an 11-5 record. However, the squad's dreams of repeating as champions were squashed in the Wild Card round against the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks.

2009: Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu

Being on the cover of a video game was nothing new for Fitzgerald, who was also on the cover of NCAA Football 2005. In fact, the star must have gotten used to the feeling in a hurry because he settled in nicely before ending the season with a career-high 13 touchdowns. He also had his third straight 1,000-yard season.

Polamalu, on the other hand, went down with an injury in Week 1 and it all went downhill from there. In what ended up being an injury-plagued season, the star only played in five games the entire season but still managed to have three interceptions.

Which player do you think will end up on the cover of Madden 15? Feel free to vote in the poll below.