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Emmitt Smith: If Peterson doesn't break rushing record, I don't know who will

Wesley Hitt / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has made it his goal to break Emmitt Smith's career rushing record, a mark he's currently 6,680 yards shy of.

If Peterson doesn't achieve the feat, Smith isn't sure when, or if, his record will be broken.

"If he doesn't get it, I don't know who's going to get it," Smith told ESPN's Jean-Jacques Taylor. "He's still got a lot of yards to go. I'm not going to lie to you."

Peterson led the NFL with 1,485 rushing yards in 2015, but will turn 31 years old in March, an age when most running backs are in decline. For him to break Smith's record, he'll need to average 1,670 yards over his next four seasons, or 1,336 yards over his next five, depending on how much longer he plays.

No running back other than Peterson carried the ball more than 300 times last season. Smith had seven seasons with at least 300 carries.

"It's a reflection of the changing times in terms of how they value the running back position and how the game has changed into a running back-by-committee approach," Smith said. "It could be because of the CTE stuff, it could be because of how offenses use spread formations vs. the I-formation and it could be the way they rotate players in and out."

Smith isn't a big fan of how things have changed, he misses the old days when running backs would regularly get 20 carries a game.

"It's somewhat sad," he said, "because I know as a running back it's hard to get that continuity and get in the flow of the game when you're getting 15 carries a game. I didn't even get rolling until I got 15 carries a game."

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