Bills running back Frank Gore is in a position to find himself in very elite company by the end of this season.
Gore is within one solid year of being third in NFL history in both career carries and career rushing yards, trailing only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton in both categories.
Gore has 3,382 carries for 14,748 yards in his career. He’s 136 carries behind Curtis Martin for the third-most rushing attempts in NFL history and 521 yards behind Barry Sanders for the third-most rushing yards in NFL history.
Although the 36-year-old Gore has virtually no shot of catching Payton for second place in either category, moving into the top three would be a remarkable achievement. Gore’s longevity is particularly impressive given that a knee injury he suffered in 2002 while playing college football at Miami was considered a red flag before he was drafted.
The 36-year-old Gore can’t keep playing forever, and given how crowded the Bills’ backfield is (with LeSean McCoy the starter and T.J. Yeldon and rookie Devin Singletary both competing with Gore for playing time as a backup), it’s easy to see Gore having more limited carries this year than at any other point in his career. But it is also easy to see Gore having at least 136 carries for 521 yards, which would put him behind only Smith and Payton in NFL history.