Frank Gore expected to sign 3-year, $12 million deal with Colts

Frank Gore expected to sign same deal with Colts he would have gotten with the Eagles

Former 49ers running back Frank Gore, once expected to become a Philadelphia Eagle, has instead opted for a similar deal with the Indianapolis Colts.

Gore has agreed to a 3-year, $12 million deal with the Colts, $7.5 million of which is guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Let's try this again: Frank Gore plans to sign with Indy, per source; deal expected to be similar to Philly offer: 3-years, $12M, $7.5M gtd.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 10, 2015

This news comes after Gore was rumored on Sunday to have accepted a similar deal with the Eagles. Schefter himself reported that Gore’s deal with the Eagles was for $7.5 million guaranteed over three years.

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As of now there is no information on why Gore backed out of the deal with the Eagles–although ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was quick to claim credit after Gore’s change of heart which he thought was a result of his implied accusations of racism against Eagles coach Chip Kelly yesterday. Hopefully for Gore’s sake he didn’t make this decision based on attention-grabbing nonsense from Smith.

Despite how many deals have been agreed to over the last few days, it’s important to remember that nothing is official until 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Gore may have agreed in principle to a deal with the Eagles, but he was still free to change his mind or seek other offers.

Gore, 32, has rushed for 1,000 yards or more in eight of his ten seasons in the league, all with the 49ers. He hasn’t missed a game since 2010, and despite his age, is coming off a very productive season with San Francisco in which he rushed for 1106 yards, good for 4.3 yards per carry.

Still, it’s easy to see how a three-year deal with a 32-year-old running back could go poorly; most running backs see a significant decline after hitting 30, and that goes double for a bruising, often-hit back like Gore. Already Gore has seen a significant dip in production as a pass-catcher; where he used to average 50 catches a year in his prime, he caught just 11 passes last season. His touchdown total also declined, from nine in 2013 to four last year.

That being said, anything would have been an upgrade for the Colts, whose backfield featured the perennially injured Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw, who gave way to the colossally disappointing Trent Richardson, who was so bad that he was scratched from the AFC Championship game in favor of late-season pickup Daniel Herron. So yeah, Gore will be an upgrade.

And Gore will go down as one of the better players to wear the red and gold for San Francisco. It’s been an offseason of change for the 49ers, and Gore was one of the few players left over from the dark years of the mid-2000s under Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary. He’s been a rock for the team, and they will miss his steady presence.

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