Fantasy Football: 4 Mid-Round Running Backs With Workhorse Potential
Frank Gore, Indianapolis Colts
ADP: 7.03 (RB33)
Frank Gore is gonna be playing with Dentures in a few years, letting them dangle from his facemask like Arian Foster used to do with his mouthpiece.
Jokes aside, we really shouldn't put anything past Gore, because what this dude has done in his 12-year career is pretty bonkers. He put up a very useful season last year in his age-33 campaign, finishing as the overall RB12 in points-per-reception (PPR) formats while checking in 18th in terms of fantasy points per game.
As our own JJ Zachariason pointed out earlier this week, Gore's 263 carries last season were the fifth-most in NFL history for a 33-year-old running back, and with his 1,026 rushing yards, he became just the third running back at least 33 years of age to break the century mark in a season. Putting up those numbers again would make him even more of a historical outlier, but Gore is already a crazy historical outlier.
He wasn't just a low-ceiling back thriving on mundane week-to-week stat lines, either. Gore was mighty useable last season on a weekly basis, posting four RB1 weeks (top 12 at the position) to go with 10 RB2 (top 24) weeks, besting both Isaiah Crowell and Jay Ajayi in each category.
| 2016 | RB1 Weeks | RB2 Weeks | 2017 ADP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Gore | 4 | 10 | RB33 |
| Isaiah Crowell | 3 | 9 | RB14 |
| Jay Ajayi | 3 | 8 | RB7 |
Obviously, you shouldn't be taking Gore before these two, but it's a good way to show that the ancient man's weekly ceiling isn't as low as you might think.
Old age is going to get to Gore at some point, but he's stiff-arming Father Time right now, and there's no reason to assume he won't do it again this fall.
His season-long upside isn't super sexy, and his big-play ability is pretty much nonexistent (his longest run last year went for 22 yards). But Gore is locked into a starting role in a good offense -- something you can't say for many running backs, nonetheless guys being taken outside the top 30 at the position -- and he's missed just one game over the past six years.
