I see Adrian Peterson is up to more shenanigans. Saying he thinks he’s in the Hall of Fame already and suggesting he’d like to finish his career as the greatest player in NFL history. Better than Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Lawrence Taylor and all the rest.
All of which, of course, is totally ridiculous.
Peterson is 30, and if he was going to even enter the argument as greatest ever, he would have needed to make a much better case so far. Maybe some postseason success?
But that doesn’t mean he can’t be really good this year. He may be 30, but he’s a special dude, and I don’t think 30 is quite the barrier that many others do. Walter Payton, Curtis Martin, Corey Dillon and Tiki Barber (twice) all ran for over 1,600 yards when they were 30-plus years old.
In the last 20 years, a dozen running backs have put up at least 200 fantasy points in a season. That’s standard scoring (1 for every 10 yards and 6 for TDs).
THIRTYSOMETHING BACKS WITH 200 POINTS | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player (age) | Rec | Run | Total | TD |
2005 | Tiki Barber (30) | 530 | 1860 | 2390 | 11 |
2004 | Curtis Martin (31) | 245 | 1697 | 1942 | 14 |
2002 | Charlie Garner (30) | 941 | 962 | 1903 | 11 |
2006 | Tiki Barber (31) | 465 | 1662 | 2127 | 5 |
2008 | Thomas Jones (30) | 207 | 1312 | 1519 | 15 |
2000 | Ricky Watters (31) | 613 | 1242 | 1855 | 9 |
2009 | Thomas Jones (31) | 58 | 1402 | 1460 | 14 |
1999 | Emmitt Smith (30) | 119 | 1397 | 1516 | 13 |
2009 | Ricky Williams (32) | 264 | 1121 | 1385 | 13 |
1998 | Barry Sanders (30) | 289 | 1491 | 1780 | 4 |
1999 | Ricky Watters (30) | 387 | 1210 | 1597 | 7 |
2005 | Mike Anderson (31) | 212 | 1014 | 1226 | 13 |
—Ian Allan