Emmitt Smith reached the pinnacle of his career in 2002, when he broke the all-time NFL record for career rushing yards. But one thing was missing from that day: Walter Payton, whose record Smith broke, didn’t live to see it.
Smith said today on PFT Live that he had spoken to Payton years earlier about the possibility of breaking the record, and he would have loved to have Payton there on that day. Smith hopes that when and if his record is broken some day, he’ll be there to see it.
“I didn’t get to do that with Walter Payton. Having him there would have been awesome . . . that, to me, would have been icing on the cake,” Smith said.
It may be a very long time before anyone breaks Smith’s record of 18,355 yards. The closest players are Frank Gore, who’s still more than 3,000 yards behind Smith, and Adrian Peterson, who’s still more than 4,000 yards back. Given that Gore will turn 37 in May, and Peterson will turn 35 in March, they’re both long shots. But Smith won’t rule anything out.
“Frank Gore’s going to run until he’s 50, so he might get there,” Smith said.
Smith will certainly own the career rushing record longer than the 18 years Payton owned it, and likely longer than the 23 years that Jim Brown owned it. It may be a very long time before Smith gets to witness his record being broken.