Will Adrian Peterson Break the Single Season-Rushing Record?

Adrian Peterson, who was born on March 21^st 1985, was selected in the first round in the 2007 National Football League draft 7^th overall. There were many concerns with Peterson's health as he had a few bad injuries in college such as breaking his collarbone during his junior year for the Oklahoma Sooners. Nobody has ever doubted this mans talent on the football field though. In his three college seasons for the Sooners he rushed for almost four thousand yards, with almost two thousand of that coming as a freshman which is astonishing. Peterson decided to declare for the draft after his junior year at Oklahoma giving up his right to come back and play for his senior year.

After the NFL finished up week 9 Adrian Peterson leads the league in rushing yards with 1,036. With eight games left in the season, it's very possible he could break the all time single season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson. In 1984 Eric Dickerson tallied up 2,105 rushing yards beating the old record held by O.J. Simpson. There are only three men who have ever rushed for over 2,000 yards in a season and they are Eric Dickerson, O.J. Simpson, and Barry Sanders. With eight games remaining Adrian Peterson needs 1,070 yards to pass Dickerson and be all by himself on top. Peterson needs to average 134 yards a game for the rest of the season, which can be a tough thing to do week in and week out. Teams will start to put eight men in the box and try to stack up on Peterson to shut him down and make the Vikings pass more. To even have an attempt to break this record is a great thing in its own, but to have a shot to do this as a rookie is amazing. All in one season Peterson could break the single season rushing record, win rookie of the year, and possibly most valuable player.

If Peterson can stay healthy and not have any major injuries he could have a nice long career ahead. If he continues to play like this throughout his career we will break many rushing records held by a lot of the NFL's great running backs over the years. It is really early in his career to be talking about Peterson being one of the elite running backs in the league, but this guy is simply amazing on the field. When his career is over he could be talked about in the elite category of running backs such as Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders and Marshal Faulk.

Sources

http://espn.go.com/

http://www.nfl.com/