Tag: NFL all-time rushing list

Jets RB Frank Gore hasn’t made a decision about playing 17th NFL season

Frank Gore hasn’t made a decision yet about returning for a 17th season in the NFL.

Frank Gore is leaving the door open to playing another season in the NFL.

Gore, 37, was noncommittal on his future in football Monday. An impending free agent, another season would be his 17th in the league.

“I still have fun playing the game of football, but I haven’t made a decision yet,” Gore said, per team reporter Eric Allen. Gore added that he will spend time with his family during the offseason before coming to a decision per The AP’s Dennis Waszak.

As Gore weighs his future, he also knows that the decision is not entirely his. He recently acknowledged that teams may not want a running back his age, especially since he’s no longer producing at a Hall of Fame rate.

“I’ve got to be real with myself, how teams think about my age,” Gore said in late November. “They might not want a 38-year-old running back on the team.”

Gore became the third running back in NFL history to rush for 16,000 career rushing yards in 2020. He ran for 653 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games in his first and likely only season in New York.

The future Hall of Fame back has been in the NFL since 2005, when he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. Gore spent 10 years in San Francisco before joining the Colts in 2015. He was in Indianapolis for three seasons and then joined the Dolphins and Bills for one season each.

Gore is third on the NFL’s all-time rushing list behind Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. He’s 726 rushing yards behind Payton for No. 2 all-time and 2,355 rushing yards behind Smith for the top spot. It is somewhat within the realm of possibility for Gore to move ahead of Payton if he decides to keep playing, though moving up the list seems unlikely even if another season comes to fruition.

It’s hard to imagine another coach would use Gore as frequently as Adam Gase did this season — 187 carries — but hey, anything is possible.

“I said this a long time ago: Never doubt Frank Gore,” the Jets’ ex-head coach said last Friday. “Whatever he wants to do, just don’t doubt him. If he decides he wants to play football again, I would love to see him play as long as he can play.”

With Frank Gore on board, 3 of the top 10 all-time rushing leaders have been Jets

The Jets have employed three top 10 rushing leaders in Frank Gore, Curtis Martin and LaDainian Tomlinson.

The New York Jets have a habit of employing some of the greatest running backs of all-time.

After agreeing to a one-year deal with Frank Gore, the Jets have now had three of the top 10 all-time rushing leaders play for them. In addition to Gore, there was also Curtis Martin and LaDainian Tomlinson.

Gore is third on the all-time rushing list with 15,347 yards. Only Walter Payton (16,726) and Emmitt Smith (18,355) are ahead of him. Martin is sixth on the list with 14,101 yards and Tomlinson is seventh with 13,694 yards.

Adrian Peterson is the only other back in the top 20 that remains active like Gore.

Of the three with Jets ties, Martin spent the most time in New York. He signed with the Jets as a free agent in 1998 and was with the team through 2005. Martin is the Jets’ single-season rushing leader with 1,697 yards in 2004. He totaled 10,302 yards as a Jet and another 3,799 with the Patriots.

As for Tomlinson, he joined the Jets in 2010 after nine seasons with the Chargers. Tomlinson was solid in his first season in green, rushing for 914 yards and six touchdowns. However, he fell off in 2011, only rushing for 280 yards and one touchdown.

Now the 36-year-old Gore has a chance to prove he still has some juice left in his legs in New York. After 10 years with the 49ers, three with the Colts and one with the Dolphins, Gore rushed for 599 yards and two touchdowns with Buffalo last season as the No. 2 running back.

Gore will likely serve as the Jets’ No. 2 running back behind Le’Veon Bell. Adam Gase has already said that he wants to lessen the load for Bell, so Gore, who played for Gase in Miami, should see plenty of touches.

If Gore ends up playing more than one season in New York, he could make history with the Jets, as he’s 1,380 yards away from passing Payton for second place on the all-time rushing list. One of the NFL’s ageless wonders, it wouldn’t be that shocking to see Gore continue his career beyond the 2020 season.