Adrian Peterson was a college football star at Oklahoma where he set the freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards during the 2004 season. Named a unanimous All-American that year, he became the first freshman to finish as a runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings seventh overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he set an NFL record for the most rushing yards in a single game (296) and was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was then awarded the MVP award for his performance in the Pro Bowl and became only the fifth player in NFL history to have more than 3,000 yards through his first two seasons. In 2012, Peterson became the sixth-fastest player to reach 8,000 rushing yards, ending the season with 2,097 rushing yards, just nine yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season all-time record. Peterson amassed 2,314 all-purpose yards from scrimmage in 2012, tying Marcus Allen for the eighth-highest total ever. For his efforts, he received the NFL MVP Award and the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award for the 2012 NFL season. During the 2013 season, Peterson became the third-fastest player to reach 10,000 rushing yards in NFL history. In 2015, Peterson became the oldest running back to be named first-team All-Pro at 30.