He's back. At long last, after years of false starts and journeyman travels, the time has come for running back Frank Gore to return to the Bay Area. After seven seasons away from San Francisco, a period that's felt like an eternity with a pandemic and some of the franchise's lowest moments mixed in between, Gore announced that he's organizing a deal with the 49ers to retire in the red-and-gold he donned for ten incredible seasons.
All the more incredible is that this reunion didn't have to happen, at least not yet. There's a litany of reasons why, despite consistent rumblings amongst the fanbase, Gore was never able to come back and produce for the team that drafted him out of the University of Miami in 2005. But now, with the long wait finally over, we can sit back and absorb everything that's transpired over the back half of Gore's historic career.
Gore's release after 2014
The front half of Gore's career was nothing short of electrifying. In ten seasons with the 49ers, Gore surpassed the 1,000 rushing yard milestone eight times. Only in his rookie season and 2010 did Gore fail to reach 1,000 total yards, and he regularly added around 400 yards per season as a pass-catching threat. Gore's incredibly steady effectiveness netted him contract extensions of nearly $50 million across his final seven years in San Francisco. But as a nine-year veteran, the 49ers sought youth and insurance at the running back position, drafting running back Carlos Hyde out of Ohio State before the 2014 season.
Hyde took a backseat to Gore in 2014, rushing for only 333 yards compared to Gore's 1,106. But as a 32-year-old running back on an expiring contract in today's NFL, Frank Gore's time in San Francisco drew to a close. With the roster, coaching staff, and front office crumbling after a short period of success, the front office had no desire to hand an aging veteran a multi-million dollar contract. The stadium he had played most of his career in was gone, San Francisco's winningest head coach in twenty years had been driven out, and the teammates he had fought alongside were leaving the organization in droves. The highs had been incredible, but it was time for Gore to find a new home. The 49ers that Gore had given his all to had moved on.
Gore's 3-year run in Indianapolis
After considering and nearly signing with Philadelphia, Gore inked a contract with the Indianapolis Colts for three years, $12 million, with about half that sum guaranteed. As it turned out, the bell cow back that the 49ers had spurned continued to churn out season after season of productive rushing. Gore never missed a game throughout his new contract, putting up a hair under 3,000 rushing yards over those three seasons. While other running backs might have been 10-year retirees at his age, Gore was still chugging along, putting up 1,000 yard rushing seasons to pair with his widely-praised veteran leadership.
The 49ers, meanwhile, were mired in one of their worst stretches in recent memory. A year after Jim Harbaugh's firing, San Francisco slipped to 5-11 in 2015 under interim head coach Jim Tomsula. While the sting of Gore's departure was undoubtedly still felt among 49ers fans, he alone would not have been able to lift the NFL's worst offense (No. 32 in points scored) to relevance. Chip Kelly's offense the following year didn't prove to be the solution either, as San Francisco barely raised its offensive efficiency en route to a disastrous 2-14 season.
The combination of horrendous roster construction and lack of organizational consistency led to the ousting of general manager Trent Baalke, and Kyle Shanahan inherited one of the NFL's worst rosters as the 49ers slogged to a 6-10 finish in 2017. But with new management and a roster ripe for turnover, many fans saw the 2017 offseason as an opportunity to bring back the star that had shined so brightly in San Francisco (and away from it, too).
Signing with Miami in 2018
After Gore's contract with Indianapolis had expired, the free-agent running back had an opportunity to survey the NFL landscape and determine where he would continue his career. As a well-traveled veteran, Gore had made a significant amount of money over his career, so his top consideration was finding a place where he could compete for a championship. Despite the quarterback talent in Indy, Andrew Luck had only actually played 22 of the 48 games that Gore started, which contributed heavily to them missing the playoffs all three years. Gore wanted to be the feature back behind a strong offensive line on a contender, and had enough cache for that to be a realistic opportunity for him.
Many fans in San Francisco saw an opening on their home team. The 49ers elected not to re-sign Carlos Hyde, who left a presumably Gore-sized gap in their roster. With a new coach, a new quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo, and ample salary-cap space, the 49ers were in the best position they were likely to get to bring Gore aboard one last time. But under the surface, the mutual interest in returning to the Bay was light at best.
Unlike previous regimes, Shanahan preferred to operate with a plethora of versatile running backs with "one-cut-and-go" agility to complement his wide zone scheme. On the other hand, Gore was now 35 and had become famous for his "up-the-gut" running ability, in which he could plow through the offensive line, churning up yards through relentless effort. In addition, 3/5 of San Francisco's offensive line were new starters, featuring center Weston Richburg, journeyman Mike Person at right guard, and rookie Mike McGlinchey at right tackle. With the concern that his needs and playing style would be incompatible with Shanahan's preferences, a reunion wasn't in the cards.
But the idea of returning on a ceremonial contract had already begun to find life in the running back. In an interview with Matt Maiocco, Gore "could not have been any more enthusiastic" about retiring a 49er. Ultimately, despite an opportunity to play alongside old friend Joe Staley, and rumblings across the NFL as the 49ers being a team on the rise, Gore elected to sign with Miami instead, returning to the city he had brightened his star in as a college player. As it turned out, this would be the last real opportunity for Gore to return home as an everyday player.
The end of Gore's playing career
Unfortunately for Gore, the 2018 season didn't play out exactly as he'd anticipated. As a runner, he actually gave the Dolphins incredible value, providing 722 yards at the veteran minimum of $1.015 million and reaching his best yards-per-carry number since his Pro Bowl season in 2012. But the Dolphins themselves proved to be a flop, as the Adam Gase experiment crumbled in Miami. They had gone to the playoffs in 2016 as a 10-6 team, only for an injury to QB Ryan Tannehill to derail their 2017 season. But the comeback vibes of 2018 quickly scattered, with the Dolphins finishing 7-9 and missing the playoffs once again.
In San Francisco, a similar quarterback derailment in that 2018 season set up a bounce-back year in which they'd go all the way to the Super Bowl in 2019. Despite Gore being available in free agency once again, it had become clear that the new 49ers style had no place for him, much to the disappointment of those hoping for a reunion. But Shanahan's ultra-effective rushing scheme proved prescient, as the combination of low-to-medium-cost running backs, spearheaded by Raheem Mostert, effectively steamrolled the entire NFC. It turned out that Gore's eyes were elsewhere as well, as he signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Buffalo Bills to join an ascending team and play alongside running back LeSean McCoy.
Gore's 2019 season in Buffalo was a moderate success, as he went to the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and cracked No. 3 on the all-time rushing leaders list. With San Francisco enjoying comparable success, the time for the two organizations to coincide had apparently passed, with any conversation about Gore's future in San Francisco being almost explicitly about a ceremonial retirement.
In 2020, Gore reunited with Gase as a New York Jet, while San Francisco tried to repeat their playoff success from the year prior. Even though neither situation went well, with Gore struggling behind an ineffective offensive line and San Francisco collapsing due to injury, neither side was in a position to send Gore to the 49ers. New York traded Le'Veon Bell, the player they had brought Gore in to back up, shortly after the season began. The 49ers, meanwhile, faced numerous salary cap restrictions due to rampant injuries that restricted their ability to take on Gore's salary.
With San Francisco still believing that its championship window was still open in 2021, they made moves that never seriously considered Gore, whose contract with the Jets had expired and was once again a free agent. Despite being still ready to play, Gore's value was finally reaching the end of its arc, and he sat out the 2021 season without a team for which to play. But now that his days of tearing up the turf seem done, Gore is finally ready to return to San Francisco.
In retirement, Gore plans to be no less active than he was as a player. He has a self-professed love for scouting football talent, using his own NFL experience as background to continue watching and cultivating the skills of the next generation of NFL running backs. His conversations with Jed York were said to include a front-office role after his ceremonial retirement, which would likely incorporate his knowledge and experience into San Francisco's scouting and drafting departments. Still, that role will have to wait until after the details of his contract are finalized, as arrangements are still being worked out, and even the smallest contract must be contructed while considering the NFL's imposing salary cap system. But once these details are fleshed out, it seems that 49ers fans will once more get to watch the superstar that carried them through the highs and lows of the team they love.
Welcome home, Frank.