This upcoming season, the Buffalo Bills appear to be a club that is dedicated to running the football a little bit more. With a quarterback as brilliant as Josh Allen, it might seem counterproductive, but Allen’s strengths can be unlocked by developing a powerful ground game.
Though many teams would not commit to a play-action fake in order to go for the run If that trend reverses, there will be more opportunities for big plays off of play-action, even if it is well aware that Allen and the pass are more dangerous than anything a Bills player can accomplish on the ground.
It would be ideal for first-year offensive coordinator Joe Brady to have a rushing game to relieve some of the strain on that passing assault, especially with a rebuilt receiver corps. The Bills’ run game will be considerably more effective and unpredictable if they can distribute carries among their talented backfield.
In this installment of “91 players in 91 days,” we talk about a rookie who went undrafted and has a well-known name.
Number 20: Frank Gore Jr. Position: RB
Weight/Height: 195 pounds, 5’8″
(Age 23 on 3/13/2025): 22
Experience/Draft: R; after the 2024 NFL Draft, signed with Buffalo
Southern Mississippi College
Obtaining: UDFA signature
Financial status (per Spotrac): Gore Jr. signed a $2.845 million three-year rookie contract in late April. Out of that sum, $90,000 is guaranteed to him, and it also stands for the dead-cap cost Buffalo will incur if they release him. Gore Jr. will have a $800,000 salary cap charge if he makes the team.
2023 Recap: Going into his second season of surpassing 1,000 yards, Gore Jr. continued to be a prolific player for the Eagles. He scored 10 touchdowns and gained 1,131 yards on 231 runs, or an average of 4.9 yards per carry. Additionally, he added 27 receptions for 221 yards and three touchdowns, setting new NCAA single-season records for Gore Jr. After finishing his career with 4,022 yards gained on 759 college rushes, he was third on the school’s all-time rushing yardage list.
Gore Jr. received invitations to the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine and the East-West Shrine Bowl for his achievements. He took full most of his opportunity at the Shrine Bowl, winning offensive MVP after putting up an 87-yard, six-carry performance that was capped off by a 47-yard touchdown run. In the contest, he also had one reception for three yards. Gore Jr. only decided to compete in the bench press at the combine, doing 12 repetitions at 225 pounds. He increased that total by completing 18 reps of the 225-pound bench at Southern Mississippi’s pro day, but he didn’t perform well in the other tests. His 40-yard sprint time was 4.69 seconds, and he could leap 29 inches vertically and 9 feet 3 inches wide.
Positional outlook: Buffalo now has five running backs on its roster, including Gore Jr. Ray Davis was selected in the fourth round of the April draft, while James Cook, Ty Johnson, and Darrynton Evans were all members of the Bills the previous season. 2024 Offseason: Going into the team’s offseason program, Gore Jr. is in good health.
Outlook for the 2024 season: I don’t see a situation in which Gore Jr. is ranked higher than RB4, since I believe the best players will be a triumvirate of Cook, Johnson, and Davis at the top of the depth chart, albeit not necessarily in that order. Though I could definitely see the Bills keeping an extra running back here if they thought they would be running the football a lot, that doesn’t mean I think Gore Jr. will be released.
Ultimately, though, I see Gore Jr. more as a practice squad possibility than a roster candidate since it is difficult to project him to the roster when attempting to determine where the team will make sacrifices at other positions in order to roster a fifth running back. Though Gore Jr.’s guaranteed salary of $75,000 makes me hesitant to think the team will cut him, that sum is insignificant compared to the Bills’ enormous operating budget.
Given Johnson’s agility and his performance in limited play last year, Frank Gore Jr. will need to have a strong preseason in order to drive Johnson off the roster, but I doubt that will happen.
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