Emmitt Smith's all-time rushing record is a record some believe will stand forever but Smith believes it will be approached according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I do believe it will be approached," Smith said. "I would be naïve to think that it could be not approached, because, hey, no one actually thought that Walter Payton's record could be approached. Here I am, in 2002, ended up breaking that record and extended it out to 18,000-plus yards. I'm not going to sit here and tell you the record is not going to be approached or broken, but I do know this: It's going to take an awful lot to get there, because I know what it took for me to get there. It's not easy." "I thought LaDainian Tomlinson would have been one guy that would challenge it," Smith said. "The last couple of years his career has kind of been going a little sideways. Now, he's in New York and how long he's there can determine how close he's going to get." Source: Star-Telegram
Who is realistically going to challenge it from today's backs? It's going to be a lot tougher than in the past. I'm sure someone some day will, but with all the sharing of carries going on it's going to be a lot tougher.
I only see Chris Johnson or Adrian Peterson have a realistic chance of approaching Emmitt's career mark of 18,355 rushing yards. A running back would have to average 1,223.6 yards a season over the next 15 seasons to reach Smith's mark. A pretty tall order, especially with more teams employing two-back system these days.
In "todays" game I can't see a back challenging it... Just seems like no one will have the longevity to reach it.
and a league based more on running with a commish that's not a tyrant aiming to have big receiving plays only.
