He will not play for the Jets in Sunday’s season finale against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
Chances are, he’ll never play for the Jets again – or anyone else.
When the 2-13 Jets round out their wretched 2020 season on Sunday, receding veteran Frank Gore will be back home to care for the bruised lung he sustained in last week’s game against the Browns.
But 37-year-old Gore has left his mark on every Jets player he’s touched this season. He was a gift to the younger players who got a glimpse of what it takes to be a professional athlete.
In a relentless game that chews and spits running backs like the current US president burps tweets, Gore has been the ultimate survivor.
The NFL is as much an abbreviation for National Football League as it is for ‘not for long’, with an average career span of 3.3 years. For running backs, that number is even lower: a career expectation of 2.57 years.
Gore has played for 16 years, 241 games, run 3,735 times for exactly 16,000 yards with 81 hasty touchdowns.
Gore’s 48 rushing yards against the Browns last week left him only Emmitt Smith (18,355) and Walter Payton (16,726) in career-rushing yards.
When you listen to those whose lives he’s touched, it’s pretty clear that Gore’s greatness extends well beyond his mind-numbing numbers.
“He’s a great footballer, but even a better person,” said the 23-year-old Jets who returned to Ty Johnson. “He is the model for a professional athlete. ”
Guard Greg Van Roten called what Gore has done “incredible”, adding: “He does everything physically and mentally to prepare himself … and he takes others along. It has been quite an experience to have a locker room with Frank. As O-linemen, we were very aware of those 16,000 yards. Every week it was, “How many more yards does Frank need? Where are we going to take him?”
“He hit him right on the nose and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Indeed, Gore’s last carry of the season – as a jet and very possibly of his career – went for a four-meter gain in the fourth quarter against the Browns. Those yards gave him 16,000 for his career.
It’s unclear if that was the play he got the bruised lung on, but Gore didn’t play another down after that.
“Frank has been an inspiration to all of us,” said quarterback Sam Darnold. ‘He’s just a special player, a special person. He was put on this earth to play football. It was incredible to see him play and I am proud to call him a teammate and a friend. ”
Coach Adam Gase, who first came around Gore in 2008 as the 49ers’ offensive assistant and later took him to Miami, said he believes Gore “influenced everyone around him in the building, whether it was is now a player, coach or staff member. ” ‘
Gore isn’t the first Hall of Fame player to play for the Jets at the twilight of his career.
Assuming he will eventually be voted into the Hall (of the top 16 career reports, all but Gore and Adrian Peterson, who is also still active, are in), then Gore will be the eighth Hall of Famer to have a cup of coffee with the Jets at the end of his career since 1993.
Safety Ronnie Lott played for the Jets in 1993 and ’94 after 10 seasons in San Francisco and two in Oakland, ending his career with the Jets.
Receiver Art Monk played for the 1994 Jets after 14 seasons in Washington and played one more season, in Philadelphia, before retiring.
Safety Steve Atwater played for the 1999 Jets after 10 years in Denver and ended his career in New York.
Quarterback Brett Favre played for the Jets in 2008 after 16 seasons at Green Bay, then played two more in Minnesota before retiring.
Running back LaDanian Tomlinson played for the Jets in 2010 and ’11 after nine seasons in San Diego, ending his career as a Jet.
Safety Ed Reed played the last seven games of the 2013 season with the Jets after 11 seasons in Baltimore and the early part of the ’13 season in Houston, and his last NFL game was as a Jet.
Defensive end Jason Taylor played for the Jets in 2010 after 12 seasons in Miami and one in Washington, ending his career with another year in Miami before retiring.
All seven of those players have been voted into the Hall of Fame.
Gore, once eligible, will have his own bust there too.
When asked if he expects Gore to continue playing or hang it up after this season, Gase said, “I said this a long time ago, ‘Never doubt Frank Gore.’ ”