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The Eagles are replacing all-time franchise rushing leader LeSean McCoy with somebody who is six years older.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Frank Gore, who spent his first 10 NFL seasons with the 49ers, will sign with the Eagles once the free agency signing period begins.
Exact terms of the multi-year deal weren’t immediately available, but ProFootballTalk reported the deal includes $7.5 million guaranteed in 2015 and 2016.
It’s a lot of money to allocate at a position where a player’s performance traditionally declines dramatically once a player hits 30 years old.
But there has been no dropoff yet in Gore’s game. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry this past year, and his 4.2 average since he turned 30 is 13th-highest in NFL history by a running back after his 30th birthday.
The Eagles earlier this week shipped the 26-year-old McCoy, who led the NFL in rushing in 2013, to the Bills for 24-year-old linebacker Kiko Alonso. That move left Chris Polk and Darren Sproles as the only tailbacks on the roster with significant NFL experience.
Gore turns 32 in May but is coming off his fourth straight season with 1,100 or more yards.
Gore, a five-time Pro Bowl pick, ranks 20th in NFL history with 11,073 rushing yards, second-most among active players behind Steven Jackson (11,388).
Although Gore is one of the NFL’s oldest active running backs, he’s one of only five backs in NFL history to record four 1,100-yard seasons after his 28th birthday. The others are Ricky Watters, Walter Payton, Tiki Barber and Thomas Jones.
Running backs almost always begin declining in their early 30s. Gore this past season became only the ninth back in NFL history to rush for at least 1,100 yards with an average of 4.3 or better after his 31st birthday.
Presumably, Gore won’t be asked to carry nearly the workload that McCoy carried — 19.5 carries per game this past season, 17.6 carries per game over the past five years.
Gore has had a remarkable string of consistency — 10 straight seasons with a rushing average of at least 4.1 yards per carry. Only Gore and Barry Sanders have averaged 4.1 yards or better in each of their first 10 NFL seasons (with a minimum of 100 carries).
Only four backs — Sanders, Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Gore — have recorded nine career seasons with 200 or more carries and a 4.1 average.
Overall, Gore has 11,073 rushing yards, a 4.5 career average, 342 receptions for 2,883 yards and 75 total touchdowns.
Gore had four 100-yard games this past season, including 119 yards rushing and a 55-yard catch for a touchdown after rookie linebacker Marcus Smith blew a coverage. It’s his only career TD reception over 23 yards.
