Adrian Peterson said this week that he believes he will break the all-time rushing record that is currently held by Emmitt Smith… In 2017.
Peterson, who is coming off of a 2,097-yard performance in 2012 in which he was just eight yards shy of the single season mark comes in with higher expectations than ever before. The Minnesota Viking running back has 8,849 career rushing yards, which is not quite halfway to the record that Smith set of 18,355 yards.
Peterson not only said that he would do it in 2017, he predicted that he would break the record in Week 16 of the 2017 season according to an interview with the Star-Tribune That would be exactly 79 regular season games from now, which would equate to rushing for 120.3 yards per game. When the numbers are drawn out like that, it seems rather feasible.
But Peterson knows as well as anyone that staying healthy will be the key. He tore his ACL in the last weekend of the 2011 regular season. And while many wondered whether or not he would be the same dominant force he once was, Peterson came back strongly than ever.
The running back will be a key piece to Minnesota’s run in the NFC North in 2013. The Vikings ranked No.2 in the league in rushing last season thanks to Peterson.