Adrian Peterson has spoken more than once about his desire to run for 2,500 yards this season. At first, we thought the Minnesota Vikings great was kidding. After a while, we realized the running back was serious.
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Peterson has reached a rare point in a transcendent athlete's career. We don't really doubt he can do anything. Of course, he needs a lot of help from his teammates and coaching staff to reach such ridiculous heights.
"It's not imperative that (Adrian Peterson) rushed for 2,000 yards, or 2,500 yards, for us to win," coach Leslie Frazier said this week, via The Associated Press. "Our offense always is going to run through Adrian, but we want to be able to pass the ball better than we did a year ago."
Gaining more than 2,000 yards at least is partly about volume. Peterson had 348 carries last season, the most he had since 2008. The Vikings probably want to lower that number this year to keep Peterson fresh.
Peterson recovered quickly from his sports hernia surgery this offseason, just like he recovered quickly from his knee surgery last season. It's a topic Peterson has spoken about enough.
"I am getting tired of people asking (about the knee)," Peterson told SI.com. "I had a pretty good season, I won MVP -- why are you still asking about the knee? It is what it is, people are curious, it's a topic of conversation."
It shouldn't be much of a topic this season. The conversation mostly will be about how Peterson can orchestrate an encore after one of the greatest seasons by a running back in NFL history.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
