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Adrian Peterson

Peterson shooting to be greatest player ever

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
YearPlayer (age)RecRunTotalTD
2005Tiki Barber (30)5301860239011
2004Curtis Martin (31)2451697194214
2002Charlie Garner (30)941962190311
2006Tiki Barber (31)465166221275
2008Thomas Jones (30)2071312151915
2000Ricky Watters (31)613124218559
2009Thomas Jones (31)581402146014
1999Emmitt Smith (30)1191397151613
2009Ricky Williams (32)2641121138513
1998Barry Sanders (30)289149117804
1999Ricky Watters (30)387121015977
2005Mike Anderson (31)2121014122613

—Ian Allan

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