SmashMouth

1. Emmitt Smith: 1,021 yards. Not bad. He followed up at age 33 with over 900 before falling off completely with Arizona and having a decent final year with 900+ at 35. Note: He never averaged 4 YPC once he reached 32.
2. Walter Payton: 1,333 yards at age 32. The next year he was a shell of that with 533 and was done.
3. Barry Sanders: Retired at 30. N/A
4. Curtis Martin: At 32, had 735 yards at a pretty poor 3.3 YPC and was out of the league the next year.
5. Ladainian Tomlinson: Ran for 280 yards with the Jets in his last season at age 32.
6. Jerome Bettis: Ran for 900+ yards at under 4 YPC. Had 368 the next year and was done.
7. Eric Dickerson: Ran for 729 yards at 3.9 YPC. Followed that up with 91 yards the next year and was done.
8. Frank Gore: Ran for 967 yards at 3.7 YPC. Followed up last year with 1,029 and 3.9 YPC.
9. Tony Dorsett: Ran for 748 yards at 4.1 YPC. Followed up at 33 with 456 at 3.5 YPC. And had a very forgettable year in Denver before he retired.
10. Jim Brown: Retired at 29. N/A
11. Mashall Faulk Ran for 292 yards at age 32 his last year.
12. Edgerrin James: Retired at 31. N/A
13. Marcus Allen: Ran for 301 yards but actually improved over the next four years in KC averaging more than 800 yards per year. Retired at 37.
14. Franco Harris: Ran for 604 yards at over 4 YPC. Followed up at 33 with 1,007 but fell to just 3.6 YPC. Played one more forgettable year at 34 and retired.
15. Thurman Thomas: Ran for 381 yards. Had two more similar years before retiring.

Which leads to No. 16 Peterson. For the top 15 rushers of all time, excluding those who retired before 32, the average yards at age 32 is about 630 yards. Last year Hightower had 548.

ScottF

That was not fun to read.

let's hope AP is the exception

saintsfan1976

Temper your expectations. Like I said early on; we'll need him to step up when #22 eventually goes down for a couple games.

foreverfan

I bet all became roll players as team realize that they are forced to have other quality RBs sharing time.
The good news is we have quality RBs and don't have to depend on him.

We shall see...

Beastmode

Likely hit 1,000 all purpose. Hightower was close to 800 yards. Beyond that would take some fortunate events for him.

neugey

What's kind of cool about this list is if AP manages even 600 rushing yards this year he will pass Jim Brown, Faulk, Edgerrin James, Marcus, Franco and Thurman. Nice list of names.

saintsfan1976

Good point.

Role players are what we've been missing. It's left the offense predictable for stretches throughout a game/season.

AllSaints

It's going to be exciting to watch what Payton will do with all his new toys... I predict Peterson to rush for 700 and 8 tds.... heard it hear first haha

WillMacKenzie

Argument Invalid: Payton still HC, Brees will throw > 50 times per game.

AsylumGuido

Is that so? Brees only attempted more than 50 yards in one game last season, 54 in the first Falcons game. Also only once in 2015 (Detroit), once in 2014 (Tampa), twice in 2013 (Jets/Rams), three times in 2012 (Skins/Packers/Cowboys - and Payton wasn't HC), none in 2011, once in 2010, and none in 2009.

That's six times in 83 games with Payton as head coach that Brees attempted more than 50 passes in a game. It's not the argument that is invalid ...

Just saying, Will. When using numbers to back up a point it is best to make sure they are accurate.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill