Realistically speaking, Adrian Peterson could move as high as third on the NFL’s all-time rushing list, but he won’t catch Emmitt Smith’s record for career rushing yards, and he knows that.
In fact, he’s already come to terms with it. But Peterson hasn’t thrown the towel in on his career just yet, telling Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he’s hoping a team gives him one last shot to play in 2023.
“Mentally, I haven’t officially hung it up,” Peterson said. “We’ll see what happens. My mindset is, if God’s willing maybe an opportunity presents itself and maybe it happens this season. I’ll go from there. But nothing happens this season. For sure, I will be hanging it up.”
The 38-year-old Peterson didn’t play during the 2022 season after seeing action in four games in 2021 with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks.
His 14,918 career rushing yards rank fifth all-time. At one point, he was a safe bet to break Smith’s record of 18,355 career yards. Peterson racked up 11,675 rushing yards through his first nine seasons (1,297 per season), and he was on pace to break Smith’s record early into the 2021 season.