Minnesota Vikings

StaTuesday: Adrian Peterson and rushing for 1,000 yards at age 30

Published Jan. 5, 2016 12:30 p.m. ET

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While plenty of people expected Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson to take a step back during his age-30 season, a year that is typically seen as the death-knell for the bellcow back, the Vikings star has kept right on rumbling.

In fact, since 1960 only three running backs have rushed for more yards at age 30.

Peterson has said he'd like to catch Emmitt Smith as the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Smith finished with 18,355 rushing yards. Peterson has 11,675, which is 6,680 fewer yards than Smith. Obviously, Peterson would have to several productive seasons, likely until age 34 or 35, to catch Smith.

Does he have a chance? Well, only 24 backs, including Peterson, have reached 1,000 yards at age 30. Only 23 have done it at age 31+, and of those just five were 33 or older -- and it was done by only three players (Franco Harris at age 33, John Henry Johnson at ages 33 and 35 and John Riggins at ages 34 and 35).

Here's a look at those who rushed for 1,000 yards at age 30 and, below that, how the rest of their careers went. Suffice to say, based on the history of previous running backs Peterson obviously has an uphill climb, but he's quashed the naysayers before.

Tiki Barber: Played one more season, gaining 1,662 yards in 2006 then abruptly left the game and went into working in television. An attempt at a comeback five years later never got off the ground.

Walter Payton: Had two more 1,000-yard seasons in 1985 and 1986. Payton announced he'd retire after the following season and in 1987, at the age of 33, he ran for 533 yards in 12 games (3.7 average).

Corey Dillon: Dillon had a rebirth in New England in 2004 after being traded by Cincinnati. He played two more seasons for the Patriots, totaling 1,543 rushing yards with a high of 812 in 2006.

Barry Sanders: Shocked the NFL world by retiring after his age 30 season. Despite speculation that he'd one day return, he never did.

Adrian Peterson: Peterson is 27th in the NFL in rushing attempts with 2,381. To catch Smith, he'd need to average 5.0 yards over 1,336 carries, which would put him third all-time in rushing attempts behind just Smith (4,409) and Payton (3,838).

Priest Holmes: Played until 2007, but injuries limited him to just 19 games (with 1,480 rush yards combined) over those three seasons.

Warrick Dunn: Topped 1,000 yards again at age 31 in 2006, but had 720 and 786 in his final two years.

Emmitt Smith: Ran for over 1,000 yards the next two seasons (1,203 and 1,021). Played three more years (one with Dallas and two in Arizona) as he chased the all-time rushing record. He never ran for 1,000 yards again and his rushing averages in this final four seasons were 3.9, 3.8, 2.8 and 3.5.

Thomas Jones: Had a career-high 1,402 yards in 2009 at age 31 -- his fifth straight season at 1,000+ yards -- but then dipped to 896 with Kansas City in 2010 before bowing out after the 2011 season with 478 yards.

Curtis Martin: Martin led the NFL in rushing at age 31 with 1,697 yards. However, he played only one more year, gaining 735 yards in 12 games in 2005.

Ricky Watters: Watters topped 1,200 yards for the third straight year in 2000 at age 31 with 1,242, but he'd play in just five more NFL games.

Garrison Hearst: Never ran for 1,000 yards again. Had a high of 972 in 2002 but was out of the NFL after gaining just 81 yards in 2004.

Willis McGahee: Injuries plagued McGahee throughout his career and he played in only 22 games while rushing for 1,108 yards over his final two seasons.

Tony Dorsett: Played four more seasons but rushed for over 1,000 yards just one more time, at age 31 in 1985.

John Riggins: A shortened season in 1982 cost Riggins a chance at a 1,000-yard season (he led the NFL with 177 carries and had 553 yards in eight games), but he made up for it the next two seasons, rushing for 1,347 and 1,239 yards. He did it with a lot of carries -- Riggins averaged just 3.6 yards and 3.8 yards those seasons (he also had 24 and 14 touchdowns). At age 36, he ceded time to George Rogers (who ran for 1,093 yards) in Washington, but still managed to have 677 yards in final year.

Fred Taylor: Like McGahee, Taylor had an injury-plagued career. He did run for 1,202 yards in 2007 at age 31, but in his final three years he combined for only 980 yards in 26 games.

Lamar Smith: Never ran for 1,000 yards before or after.

Frank Gore: Reached 1,000 yards again at 31 in 2014 and just barely missed the mark this past season (967 yards). He has nearly 400 more career carries than Peterson.

Herschel Walker: Hard to believe, perhaps, but Walker only rushed for 1,000 yards twice in his NFL career and his age 30 season was his last one (and much to the chagrin of Vikings fans neither came in Minnesota). He played five more years, totaling 1,503 yards in 80 games with a high of 746 yards in 1993.

Tony Canadeo: Obviously played in a much different era and 1949 was his only year with 1,000 yards (they also played only 12 games back then), but even so his best days were well behind him as from ages 31-33 he ran for just 549 yards at a 2.7-yard clip.

Rocky Bleier: Like Smith, never rushed for 1,000 yards before or after. Having Franco Harris on his team didn't help get him carries, of course.

Thurman Thomas: Played four more seasons and totaled 1,312 rushing yards.

Eddie George: Played just one more season, in Dallas, and gained 432 yards.

Christian Okoye: "The Nigerian Nightmare" played only one more year, gaining 448 yards.

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