Adrian Peterson Says He Wants to Play in NFL for 10 More Years

Typical NFL running backs start looking toward retirement as they approach their 10th year in the league. Adrian Peterson isn't a typical NFL running back. 

The Minnesota Vikings star said on Wednesday that he hopes to play another decade in the NFL.

"If God’s willing, 10 more years," Peterson said, per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. "If God’s willing, I’ll just be able to walk away from the game at the highest level whenever I decide."

Peterson has already played 111 NFL games to date. Assuming he stays healthy this season and relatively healthy for another decade, he will have eclipsed 250 appearances.

Marshall Faulk, Walter Payton, LaDainian Tomlinson, Tony Dorsett and Eric Dickerson are among the greatest running backs of all time, and they all failed to even reach 200 games. Emmitt Smith notched 226 appearances, but he was a shell of his former self for his final two years with the Arizona Cardinals.

Peterson is a physical freak of nature, as evidenced by the fact he ran for over 2,000 yards one season after tearing his ACL. He also missed much of last year after getting placed on the commissioner's exempt list, so that's a season in which he wasn't subjected to the weekly grind of an NFL schedule.

Still, playing nearly two decades in the NFL is almost impossible in this day and age—especially for a running back.

Maybe Peterson should aim for five more years and then just play it by ear from there.