Every summer, several unflashy picks must be made in the middle and later rounds of fantasy leagues. Owners who drop expletives as their sleeper FLEX leaves the queue early, inducing a reluctant click on Torrey Smith, know the feeling.
One running back could epitomize this unappetizing stew of characteristics come August, yet a strangely compelling case surrounds him.
Frank Gore checks most boxes as a potential “Has it come to this?” hall of famer in fantasy drafts.
Despite the reality that fantasy analysts prepared for his demise years ago in San Francisco, Gore is 33 and entering his 12th season. As a first-year Colts cog in 2015, he averaged a career-low 3.7 yards per carry en route to his first three-digit rushing total during a season in which he played 16 games. He has not factored into passing games for most of the decade. He plays for a team that plummeted off the radar last year after entering with Super Bowl expectations.
And did we mention Gore is old?
Frank Gore is one of the stranger sleeper candidates in recent memory. He could legitimately be a valuable commodity for the teams that reluctantly pick him this year.
Let’s get this out of the way: No age-33 running back has rushed for 1,000 yards since John Riggins in 1984. Not Curtis Martin, Emmitt Smith, or Jerome Bettis. It’s possible Gore defies modern logic and ventures back into four-digit territory — until 2018 Adrian Peterson, who else would you bet on to do this? — but he will still be relevant even if he falls short again.
The Colts were bad in 2015, but they brought in no legitimate threats to Gore’s snap count — not even a player who profiles as a third-down back. Robert Turbin and Jordan Todman represent the second- and third-stringers for an amazingly thin backfield.
So, the resilient runner will amazingly be the face of a team’s running game again. He will serve as the goal-line back (his 35 red-zone totes ranked eighth last year) while potentially playing a key role on passing downs, with Ahmad Bradshaw no longer employed.
Instead of signing or drafting a complementary back, Indianapolis selected players that will help Gore extract the last drops of fantasy value from his career.
First-round center Ryan Kelly and third-round tackle Le’Raven Clark provide help for a line whose substandard play led to Andrew Luck’s season-ending injury. The group created rampant Matt Hasselbeck injuries, sending the 40-year-old into a TV studio. Indy’s line was ranked 17th last season by Pro Football Focus and limited Gore to 1.7 yards on those red zone handoffs. This season, it should improve. Anthony Castonzo and Jack Mewhort return, with Kelly an almost-certain starter and Clark factoring in at right tackle.
Most importantly, Luck is healthy again.
Andrew Luck
The fifth-year superstar’s presence will do wonders for Gore’s efforts to add another 1,000-yard showing to his Hall of Fame resume. Despite failing to hit the 1,000-yard threshold for the first time since 2010, the 2005 third-round pick rushed for 967 — ninth in the league — and managed 1,234 yards from scrimmage. That total, which led to seven TDs, is right in step with the work he did for the 49ers in recent years.
Gore’s also been insanely durable, having not missed a game since 2010. The Colts signed him to a three-year, $12 million deal in 2015, and it’s almost certain he’ll be the team’s backfield centerpiece this season.
In an era when most teams roll with committees and younger talents in their backfields, Gore is having none of it. A committee unto himself since MySpace ruled the social media landscape, Gore outlasted all of the running backs taken before him in 2005: Ronnie Brown and Cedric Benson, to name two, along with Maurice Jones-Drew and Marshawn Lynch.
Yes, he’ll probably slow down a bit more this year, but the Colts’ strange lack of options behind him; their offensive line investments; and, most importantly, Luck’s return will again make Gore a must-roster player. A no-doubt FLEX, the ex-Miami Hurricane somehow still has an RB2 ceiling.
Younger players such as T.J. Yeldon, Justin Forsett, Ameer Abdullah or Jeremy Langford may be queued up before Gore, but none have his job security or the luxury of working with a quarterback as good as Luck.
Gore’s arrow should not be pointing up anymore, but it is. Instead of dreading being stuck with him this summer, embrace it. One of your sleepers is hiding in plain sight.
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