Frank Gore to Sign 1-Day Contract, Retire with 49ers; SF's All-Time Leading Rusher
June 2, 2022
Frank Gore will officially retire from the NFL as a member of the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday.
Per Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group, Gore will sign a one-day contract with the 49ers to end his career with the team he spent the first 10 years of his career with.
The ceremonial retirement has been expected, as Gore told Bovada's Heidi Watney on April 2 that he would sign a one-day deal with the 49ers at some point in the next few months.
Frank Gore @frankgoreTruly Blessed‼️🙏🏿 <a href="https://twitter.com/49ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@49ers</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForeverGrateful?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForeverGrateful</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FTTB?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FTTB</a> <a href="https://t.co/lOsDIpZXbD">https://t.co/lOsDIpZXbD</a>
Numerous NFL players have elected to sign a ceremonial contract with the team they had their greatest success with if they were no longer playing for that organization at the time of their retirement.
Jerry Rice (49ers), LaDainian Tomlinson (San Diego Chargers), Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and Tim Brown (Oakland Raiders) are among the notable legends who received one-day contracts before sailing off into the sunset.
Gore is one of the most successful running backs in NFL history. He ranks third all-time with 16,000 rushing yards and is tied for 19th with 81 rushing touchdowns.
Rice, Smith and Walter Payton are the only players in league history with more yards from scrimmage than Gore's 19,985.
The 49ers selected Gore in the third round (No. 65 overall) of the 2005 NFL draft. He split carries with Kevan Barlow as a rookie before taking over as the starter in his second season.
Gore ran for at least 1,000 yards in eight of his next nine seasons in San Francisco. The only time he didn't break the 1,000-yard mark during that span was in 2010 when injuries limited him to 11 games.
After Jim Harbaugh parted ways with the 49ers following the 2014 season, Gore moved on by signing a three-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts. The Miami alum averaged 984.3 rushing yards per season with Indianapolis from 2015 to 2017.
Gore also spent one season each with the Miami Dolphins (2018), Buffalo Bills (2019) and New York Jets (2020).
During San Francisco's run to the Super Bowl in the 2012 playoffs, Gore averaged 106.3 rushing yards per contest in three games. He ran for 110 yards in the 49ers' 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl 47.