Adrian Peterson – RB (Madden NFL 25)
This edition of Madden was released in August 2013, so this was the year immediately proceeding Adrian Peterson‘s MVP honors. You can typically take the year of the Madden game, subtract the title-year by two, and that’s the year in which the player accrued the numbers used to determine his ranking.
The 2012 season for Peterson was extraordinary. That’s modest terminology. It was the most dominant season yard-wise by a running back in 30 years. In fact, Peterson’s final rushing yards total was only outdone by one other player in NFL history–Eric Dickerson in 1984.
It’s debatable if Peterson’s MVP season was the second-best ever by a running back. The 1998 version of Terrell Davis or the 2003 rendition of Jamal Lewis would probably put up a good argument. Although, neither of those men won an NFL MVP award in those seasons. Heck, Dickerson did not even win the MVP award in 1984.
No running back has been named the NFL MVP since Peterson since it’s largely been a quarterback trophy. That’s probably why Peterson’s 2012 campaign netted him a spot in the Madden 99 club.