Frank Gore is 38 years old, elderly by NFL running back standards, but he still believes he can play.
Gore told KNBR today that he doesn’t want to retire and is hoping a contending team gives him a shot.
“I know that I can still play the game, I know I can help a team,” Gore said. “But it’s also got to be the right situation that I feel that I can be on a team that could go to the playoffs and get a chance to probably go to the Super Bowl. I know that I can still play the game of football, but I also want to be in the right situation on the right team.”
Gore said he has had some interest from some teams, but if the right opportunity doesn’t come along he’s open to the possibility that he has played his last NFL game.
“I talked to a couple teams, but my agent told me not to put any teams’ names out there. I kind of want to wait to training camp,” Gore said. “I want to feel that. I want to wait to see if it’s the right situation for me. . . . If a team calls and I feel like it’s right, i’ma do it. But if I don’t like the situation, I’ll say forget it and I’ll retire. . . . If I don’t feel like it’s the right situation, I’ll retire.”
With the Jets last year Gore started 14 games and carried 187 times for 653 yards, a career-low average of 3.5 yards per carry. Gore has 16,000 career rushing yards, third in NFL history behind Emmitt Smith (18,355) and Walter Payton (16,726).