Colts running back Frank Gore reiterated on Wednesday that he expects to return in 2018 for his 14th NFL season and that quarterback and offensive line will factor into his decision, ESPN’s Mike Wells writes. 
“Quarterback, O-line, have to be my type of style of team,” he said. “Nasty, physical, punch you in the mouth. I don’t want to finish like this. I know I can still play. I want to help a team.”
Gore, an impending free agent, would be 35 years old at the start of the 2018 campaign and hasn’t averaged at least 4.0 yards per carry since 2014, his final season in San Francisco. Still, if a team needs an experienced back to groom a a first- or second-year ball carrier or a physical, goal-line back, it’s hard to bet against the veteran.
Gore has cracked 1,000 yards nine times in his career and enters Week 17 just 139 yards away from his 10th such campaign. If he were to reach the mark, Gore would join Emmitt Smith, Walter Peyton, Curtis Martin and Jerome Bettis as players to achieve the feat 10 times.
Though he is among the league’s elder statesmen, Gore is sure to impress some general manager with his passion for the game. That’s what happened with Colts first-year GM Chris Ballard, who planned on cutting the back before the start of the season, MMQB’s Peter King writes.
“Frank picks up the phone in the middle of a party he was attending, and I could feel his passion and love for football,” Ballard told King. “He went on for 10 minutes about how much he wanted to win. So the next day I went to the office and watched all of his carries from 2016 and came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no way I was letting him out of the building.”
Gore is determined to go out on a high note and there’s no reason to think he won’t have the opportunity in 2018.
