The league’s third all-time leading rusher is close to hanging up his cleats for good.
Frank Gore told TheSFNiners.com this week that he is planning on signing a one-day deal with the San Francisco 49ers, the team that drafted him, and retiring from the NFL. It’s only a matter of time.
“We still trying to figure out when I’m going through my one-day contract, to sign, do my retirement,” Gore said. “I told (owner) Jed York I always want to be a Niner. So we working on that right now.”
Gore has not played in the NFL since the 2020 season, when he tallied 742 total yards and two scores on 203 touches for the New York Jets, his fifth NFL team. Gore, a third-round pick in the 2005 draft, spent the first 10 years of his career in San Francisco, rushing for at least 1,000 yards in eight of those campaigns and being named to five Pro Bowls. Since then, the now-38-year-old back has played for Indianapolis, Miami, Buffalo and New York.
Most recently, Gore had taken up another sport: boxing. Gore trained for and competed in an exhibition bout against former NBA player Deron Williams in December. The RB lost via split decision.
Leading up to the bout, Gore told NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe he would welcome another run at a Super Bowl, potentially with the Niners, but also indicated “I’m happy where I am in life.”
If he does indeed retire this offseason without returning to the field again, Gore would finish with 16,000 rushing yards even, the third-most in NFL history behind Emmitt Smith (18.355) and Walter Payton (16,726). Payton’s total is within reach if Gore decides to come back, but the running back indicated he’s more interested now in evaluating talent than displaying his own.
“I love looking at talent and I love evaluating talent and I love ball,” Gore said, hinting at a future in the Niners front office. “They know that I know football players, what it’s supposed to take to be a football player.”
