The oldest player in NFL history was a guy by the name of George Blanda. You've probably heard of him before. He's a Hall of Fame quarterback that played for the Bears, Colts, Oilers, and Raiders. His entire stint with Oakland didn't start until he was 40 years old, and it ended when he was 48.
If it was up to Herschel Walker, that record would be broken pretty soon. Walker, now 54, is fully confident that he can still help an NFL team.
"I don't think I can. I know I can," Walker told Omnisport this week, per the Sporting News. "In a third-down situation, I could help a team out today. I could do a few things and do it well."
Let's keep in mind that Walker last played professional football in 1997. That's 19 years ago. The last time he touched the ball more than 62 times in a season was 1994. That's 22 years ago. He was still a pretty good return man in his final three seasons, but didn't do much in the way of actual running back work.
He does keep himself in incredible shape, though, so who knows. He was doing MMA fights as recently as 2011. If anyone can play at age 54, it's probably Herschel Walker.
Here's his rationale for thinking he can do it:
"They don't take as many hits as we were taking," said Walker, who played three seasons in the USFL before his NFL career. "But at the same time, you've got to be able to block and protect that quarterback. They don't take as many hits, but the guys have gotten bigger and faster, so it might be irrelevant. There might be a little more impact when they do get hit.
"The game has changed so much because of the passing game and many times they've tried to get rid of the running back position by throwing the ball all the time, but if you want to win the Super Bowl, you'd better be able to run the ball. I don't care who you are, you've got to be able to control the clock when it comes down to it."
We know at least one team that's trying to execute that "ball-control through running it all the time" strategy: Walker's former team, the Dallas Cowboys! They have Zeke Elliott in tow, but maybe they can give Walker a shot, too.
