Since Frank Gore was selected by the 49ers in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft, he’s been one of the most consistent and beloved players in the league. The consistency is obvious — from 2005 through 2016, he missed the 1,000-yard mark in just three seaasons (2005, 2010, 2016), and over that stretch, no other running back has more rushing attempts (2,965), or rushing yards (13,065), and only Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson have more rushing touchdowns than Gore’s 74.
Gore has plied his trade for the 49ers, the Colts, the Dolphins, and the Bills through his 15-year career, and now, he’ll be running the ball the Jets, who signed him to a one-year contract on Tuesday, per Gore’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
Congrats @frankgore pic.twitter.com/njfdx1RN0d
— Drew Rosenhaus (@RosenhausSports) May 6, 2020
Here’s where it gets interesting. Gore will turn 37 on May 14, which puts him in rarefied air for his position. We all know that running backs are fungible as other positions aren’t, and that running backs tend to get used up by the sheer physical demands of what they do.
But if Gore is able to match or exceed the 599 yards on 166 carries he put up for the Bills last season, he’ll make even more history than he already has. Hall-of-Famer Marcus Allen, in his final NFL season, ran for 505 yards and 11 touchdowns on 124 carries at age 37. After that, you have to hit the Wayback Machine for the next most prolific back at the age Gore will be when the 2020 season begins: John Henry Johnson for the AFL’s Houston Oilers in 1966, with his 226 yards and three touchdowns on 70 carries. No other running back in professional football history has managed even 100 yards in a season at age 37 or older. Only Allen and John Riggins gained more rushing yards at age 36 than Gore did, so there’s that.
Most of the most prolific runners 37 years of age or older, in fact, are quarterbacks. Doug Flutie (1999), Steve Young (1998), and Ryan Fitzpatrick (2019) rank second, third, and fourth on the single-season Old Guys rushing list regardless of position, and after John Henry Johnson pops up, it’s John Elway (1997), Roger Staubach (1979), and Flutie three more times (2000, 2001, and 2003). Heck… Earl Morrall, who would never be recognized as the most athletic quarterback at any point in his career, ran for more yards in 1972 at age 38 for the perfect Dolphins (67) than the next running back after Gore and Johnson on the list — 37-year-old Tony Richardson of the Jets in 2008 (65).
So, when we say that it is exceedingly rare for a running back of any stripe to have the potential to be productive at Frank Gore’s level at his age, there is a historical component which says that this just doesn’t happen. If Gore is able to beat Father Time this time around, it will be uniquely historic — and another component to when should eventually be his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Because being the best old running back ever? It’s a pretty remarkable feat.