Adrian Peterson has lofty goal for the Redskins 2020 season

Adrian Peterson is hoping to add another lofty achievement to his resume in 2020.

There’s no doubt that Adrian Peterson will be a Hall of Famer as soon as he’s eligible. Peterson is arguably the best running back of this generation and over the course of his career, he has racked up a number of excellent achievements.

Peterson has been an All-Pro first-teamer four times. He has been to seven Pro Bowls. In 2012, he racked up 2,097 rushing yards in a single season, the second-most in NFL history behind only Eric Dickerson. And in seven of his first eight seasons, Peterson had double-digit rushing touchdowns and has 117 total touchdowns during his storied career.

In terms of rushing yardage, Peterson ranks fifth in NFL history with 14,216 yards. Ahead of the 2020 season, he has his sights set on moving up that list and taking away the fourth place spot from Barry Sanders (15,269 yards). Here’s what Peterson said that achievement would mean to him in a recent interview on NFL Network, per Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith.

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"That’s definitely one of the goals, passing Barry Sanders would definitely be one of the highlights of my career. What he accomplished, and how I’ve looked up to him, I’ve always wanted to say I did something better than Barry Sanders."

That certainly would be a big-time achievement for Peterson, especially considering that Sanders never had less than 1,115 rushing yards in a season (and that came in 1993, a season in which Sanders missed five games). Sanders surely could’ve been the NFL’s leading rusher had he not retired after his age-30 season.

Getting to the fourth all-time spot in 2020 won’t necessarily be easy for Peterson. He absolutely has the talent needed to post 1,054-yard season, the exact number needed to pass Sanders, but the question will be more about Peterson’s overall workload.

The Redskins are loaded at the running back position right now. While Peterson will certainly factor into the rotation, so too will Derrius Guice and third-round pick Antonio Gibson. And behind those top three options are veteran J.D. McKissic and Peyton Barber as well as 2019 fourth-round pick Bryce Love. They won’t all make the roster, but whoever does will be splitting time with Peterson.

Barring injuries striking the running back corps again, Peterson seems unlikely to surpass the 211 carries he shouldered last year. In fact, he may fall more in the 180 carry range max if all goes well for Guice and Gibson. It’s also worth noting that Peterson has had just one 1,000-plus yard season since 2016. It came with Washington in 2018, but that came amid a lot of uncertainty in the backfield and even still, his yardage total from that campaign wouldn’t have been enough to push him in front of Sanders.

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There’s no doubt that Peterson will be able to pass Sanders eventually. It just may not happen this season. But if things go right for the 35-year-old, he should get close to Sanders’ mark and then set his sights on the No. 3 rusher on the list — current Jets running back Frank Gore (15,347 yards and counting).

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