Mark Ingram doesn’t just want to be a good running back. He doesn’t just want to be a great running back. He doesn’t just want to be the best running back in the NFL.
He wants to be greater than any running back who has ever played the game of football.
“The sky’s the limit, man. I want to be the best back to ever play the freakin’ game of football,” Ingram said, via ESPN.
Through three NFL seasons since the Saints took him in the first round of the 2011 draft, Ingram has fallen slightly short of being the best ever. He has 356 carries for 1,462 yards and 11 touchdowns so far in his career. Those numbers wouldn’t even make him the best running back in the NFL if he had compiled them in one year, let alone three.
The Saints declined to pick up the fifth-year option on Ingram’s rookie deal, meaning he’s heading into a contract year. There’s a good chance that the Saints will move on from Ingram in 2015, with Pierre Thomas still in place as the starter and second-year running back Khiry Robinson showing promise as a backup to Thomas. Ingram, however, says he isn’t worrying about the future.
“I just want to do everything I can to be the best player I can be to help us win games and win a championship. That’s my No. 1 goal,” Ingram said.
Ingram sets his goals high.