Former Colts Are Returning Frank Gore Shares Future NFL Plans

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Indianapolis Colts veteran executive Frank Gore has announced he is officially retiring from the NFL.

Frank Gore is not on the NFL roster for the 2021 season. Now poised to turn 39 in May, Gore is poised to become his official NFL retirement.

In an interview with The SFNiers.com on April 2, Gore shared his plans to sign a one-day contract with the San Francisco 49ers and retire from the NFL. He also has aspirations to join the 49ers office.

“We are still trying to figure out when I complete my one-day contract, to sign, to retire,” Gore said. “I told [owner] Jed York I’ve always wanted to be a Niners. So we’re working on that right now.

“We will also sit down with me and my agent to talk about my work in the front office.”

Outlined by the 49ers in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Gore played in San Francisco for 10 seasons. As a freelance agent in 2015, Gore signed a three-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts.

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Frank Gore with Colts

Turning 32 when he signed with Indianapolis, Gore is no longer the same. His average yards per take dropped below 4.0 yards for the first time in his career during his first season with the Colts.

In his three years with the Colts, Gore averaged 3.8 yards per dash. That average is 4.5 yards/turn taken over a decade with the 49ers.

But Gore was still a very efficient back-runner, dashing at least 960 yards each season at Indianapolis. His best season was 2016 when he crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the last time of his career.

In 2016, Gore hit 1,025 yards of dash and scored four touchdowns.

In three years with the Colts, Gore dashed 2,953 yards and made 13 touchdowns. He also has 101 tackles for 789 yards.

When Gore left the team after the 2017 season, he ranked 12th on Indianapolis’s list of all-time greats. He’s currently 13th on the list, when Jonathan Taylor overtook Gore at Week 18 last year.

Frank Gore retires at number three on the all-time rush list

Gore has never led the NFL in dash speed, but he has accumulated 16,000 yards of dash, the third most in history, with consistency and longevity.

From his second season in 2006 to 2016, Gore was only twice unable to dash the 1,000 meters in a single season. The first was in 2010 when he had 853 yards on the ground in 11 games. Gore missed the final five competitions of that season with a right hip fracture.

The only time he failed to score in the 1,000-yard campaign from 2006-16 was his first season with the Colts.

After Indianapolis, Gore ended his career in the AFC East – playing one season with the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. Gore played 16 seasons and in his last campaign he led the Jets in high dash with 653 yards.

Gore won’t retire as a member of the Colts, but he will certainly enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When that happens, Gore will represent all the teams he has played for in the league.

Gore and Adrian Peterson are the only backrunners in NFL history to have led four different teams to the dash in one season and amassed more than 10,000 quick dashes in their careers.

In addition to the Colts, 49ers, and Jets, Gore led the Dolphins rushing through the 2018 season.