Adrian Peterson Q&A: Vikings RB on Age, Training and How the NFL ‘Really Is’

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson has just heard a derivation of the “30-year-old” running back question for roughly the four-millionth time, but politely answers the question as if it were the first time he’d heard it. 

But at 31, Peterson is a marvel of genetics. He doesn’t look at all slower or worn down from his years in the NFL. He has rushed for at least 1,200 yards in seven of his nine seasons and is coming off a league-leading 1,485 yards in 2015…at age 30.

In keeping with that theme, his teammates and coaches don’t sense that he has diminished at all.

“He doesn’t run any slower, see the field any less, doesn’t run with any less power,” said coach Mike Zimmer, who also doesn’t even dream about wasting one of the greatest runners in NFL history in the preseason.

Peterson talked with Bleacher Report recently.

       

Bleacher Report: So how many times have you been asked the question about being an over-30 running back?

Adrian Peterson: Too many times.

     

B/R: So you have the automatic response for that one?

AP: Not really. I think it’s always a little different, but it is what it is to me. I know that people have their own opinions and they look at what the norm is for people. I look at age as just being a number. In my mind my age is still 28 and I think I have to remember how old I am.

       

B/R: Me too.

AP: (Laughs) But for me it’s really mind over matter. I go out and put in a load during the offseason so I know what I’m going to be able to do, as long as I stay healthy, when it comes time for the season.  

    

B/R: I don’t want to take you too far down this path, but this question is related to something from fantasy football. The year you were coming back from your knee injury (2012), I think I took you in a second round of the draft. It was in an analysts drafts, so everybody is asking about everybody’s pick. They asked me why I took you so high in the draft and I said I always take guys who have the mental capacity and toughness to overcome things. So to me you are one of those rare athletes who is able to mentally focus over whatever obstacle, and age would be that latest one. Explain that process.

AP: It comes with a lot of work, and then there’s guys that come before me that I’m able to look at and inspire me as well. I got a guy on the team now, [cornerback] Terence Newman; he’s 37 now and he’s been doing it for a long time. You look at Ray Lewis, you look at Brett Favre. I know it’s different positions, but you think about the mental mindset it takes to continue to grind and play at a high level. Those are the guys that I look at that motivate me.  

It’s all about mind over matter. Each summer when I’m down in Houston working out, we always have young guys come in. For instance, this year there’s [Chargers running back] Melvin Gordon and a lot of other young guys that came down to Houston to work out and to see where you’re at. There hasn’t been an offseason yet where I wasn’t the top guy in all the testing.

To me, when you got a 20-year-old running back or 21-year-old receiver that’s just coming out of college and you’re out working these guys, age really don’t matter. So it’s easy for me to see what it is. People say it’s all about age, but to me, it’s mind over matter.

Impressive to see #Vikings RB Adrian Peterson workout @OAthletik Story+more photos: https://t.co/frLiW3KDR0 pic.twitter.com/dQ5zQaJANr

— Craig Peters (@pcraigers) July 6, 2016

      

B/R: Walter Payton had this drill where he used to run up and down riverbanks back in Mississippi where he grew up. Did you have something like that that you do that’s a ritual kind of thing?

AP: Yeah, hills. Hill workouts …

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