National Football League

Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson not counting out NFL rushing records

Published Jun. 15, 2015 2:21 p.m. ET

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Adrian Peterson's lost 2014 season has not crushed his hopes to one day hold the NFL's most prestigious rushing records, according to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. The Minnesota Vikings running back still has his sights set on Emmitt Smith's all-time mark of 18,355 yards.

"I don't think it's impossible,'' Peterson told the Pioneer Press. "A lot of things are still to come. ... I look at things that anything is possible. He played 15 years. I'm going into year nine but I've only got eight on the body. That's a long-term goal (to break the record)."

Smith played 15 NFL seasons and retired after he had reached the ripe old running back age of 35. Peterson, who just turned 30 years old in March, predicts that he'll be able to play longer than Smith did, per the Pioneer Press. To match Smith's mark, however, Peterson needs over 8,000 more yards.

"I think I can play (past Smith's retirement age of 35),'' Peterson told the Pioneer Press. "I'm blessed with tremendous talent and recovery and everything, so I feel like I'll be able to play as long as I want. ... I want to play seven more (years). Eight. I really feel that I can be 38 out there and still be the best running back in the NFL."

Also in Peterson's crosshairs is Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing yardage record of 2,105, set way back in 1984. That particular record has come under fire multiple times, most recently by Peterson himself. In 2012, the Vikings running back fell just eight yards shy of Dickerson's mark.

(h/t TwinCities.com)

Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images