OK. It's been well documented that Adrian Peterson was agitated that he fell 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record a year ago. And in order to raise the bar for 2013, Peterson has announced a personal goal to chase a 2,500-yard season.

But that's not the only milestone the always motivated running back keeps in the back of his mind. Peterson also wants to some day leave the game as the NFL's all-time leading rusher, a record currently held by Emmitt Smith.

Peterson, with 8,849 yards, is approaching the halfway mark to Smith's 18,355-yard record. And last December, in our in-depth profile of Peterson as the Star Tribune Sportsman of the Year, we told A.D. that he was on pace to catch Smith in Week 4 of 2019. Peterson wouldn't accept the math, vowed to get the record sooner and promised to get back to us with his prognostication.

On Saturday, in an exclusive sitdown with the Star Tribune, we finally made Peterson do the math.

The full transcript of our discussion with Peterson will post online soon. And you won't want to miss his candid thoughts on a whole variety of topics, ranging from Robert Griffin III's ACL recovery to the trade of Percy Harvin to his suspicions of performance-enhancing drugs in the NFL to the lingering sting of the Vikings' NFC title game loss to New Orleans four seasons ago.

But here is the part of the exchange where Peterson, playing along in good spirits, finally delivered a projection on reaching Emmitt Smith.

Q Forget about Eric Dickerson's record for a minute. Last December, we talked about Emmitt Smith's record and I told you you were on pace to get there in Week 4 of 2019. You said sooner and promised to come back with a timetable. Emmitt had 18,355 yards. You're now 9,506 away. We need a week and a year. When do you get there?A Man. Oh boy. I have to do some calculations. I've been in the league seven years. I'm already right around [9,000]. Calculate it out … Let's think. Maybe get a couple 2,000 yard seasons … I've got … Hmmm … 2017.Q What week in 2017?

A Man. I better go late. I'm already getting too far in front of myself. I'll say Week 16. There it is. Week 16 in 2017. Whoo. That's pushing it, huh? But hey, pushing it is the only way to do it. You know it.Just to break it down for you in full, that gives Peterson 79 games to amass the 9,506 yards he needs to reach Smith. That comes out to a per-game average of 120.3 yards per contest with the assumption that Peterson avoids injury and doesn't miss a game between now and Week 16 of 2017. Yes, it's pushing it indeed. But good fun to consider, right?

Check back to StarTribune.com on Sunday night for the entirety of our conversation with Peterson.