NEW YORK — Running back Frank Gore has agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the New York Jets, agent Drew Rosenhaus announced.
Gore, who turns 37 next Thursday, will join a Jets backfield that also includes Le’Veon Bell and fourth-round draft pick La’Mical Perine. Gore is third on the NFL’s career rushing list with 15,269 yards.
The Jets had not yet announced the signing Tuesday, but it reunites Gore with Coach Adam Gase, for whom he played in Miami in 2018. The two were also together in San Francisco in 2008, when Gase was an offensive assistant.
ESPN first reported the agreement between the Jets and Gore, who trails only Emmitt Smith (18,355) and Walter Payton (16,726) in yards rushing.
Gore spent last season with Buffalo, where he ran for a career-low 599 yards in 16 games while sharing the backfield with rookie Devin Singletary. The veteran had two touchdown runs and also caught 13 passes for 100 yards.
He spent his first 10 NFL seasons with San Francisco after being selected in the third round out of the University of Miami in 2005. Gore then played three seasons with Indianapolis before playing one year each for Miami and Buffalo.
In Gore’s latest stop in the AFC East – he now has only not been with New England – he could help keep Bell fresh while also providing mentorship to Perine. The Jets also have Josh Adams, Trenton Cannon, Kenneth Dixon and Jalin Moore on the roster.
Gase raved last season about Gore’s professionalism and ability to play at a high level despite being at an age when most NFL players – let alone running backs – are long retired.
“It’s unbelievable,” Gase said last September before New York’s season opener against Buffalo. “If you watched him work day-in and day-out, it wouldn’t surprise you. We would always say, ‘Hey, we think you should take today off,’ and he’s like, “Wednesdays, I’m practicing,” and he wants every rep. You’re in full pads and he’s going at it like it’s Sunday. That’s just how he looks.
“That’s how he’s always been. He loves football. There’s no other place he’d rather be than the practice field, gameday. Everything about football, he loves.”
• A person with direct knowledge of the decision says the New York Jets are placing wide receivers Quincy Enunwa and Josh Bellamy on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.
The moves effectively end each of the player’s seasons with the Jets, four months before the opener is scheduled.
Enunwa missed all but one game last season with a serious neck injury, his second in three seasons. Bellamy was sidelined the last nine games with a shoulder injury, prematurely ending his first year in New York.
Enunwa’s $6 million salary for this season is fully guaranteed, and it would cost the Jets $11.4 million in dead money on the salary cap if he’s released now. He’s due $7.8 million next year, with $4.1 million guaranteed for injury.
Enunwa, who turns 28 on May 31, and has been one of New York’s most popular players – when healthy – over the past several seasons for his tough, physical approach to the wide receiver position. But staying on the field has been an issue for him the past few years.
Enunwa, a sixth-round pick out of Nebraska in 2014, has played in just 12 games over the past three seasons because of injuries. After a breakout year in 2016 during which he set career highs with 58 catches, 857 yards and four touchdowns, Enunwa hurt his neck during a scrimmage in training camp and needed season-ending surgery to repair bulging disks.
He bounced back in 2018 and was healthy most of the season, catching 38 passes for 449 yards and one touchdown. Enunwa was viewed as a building block by then-general manager Mike Maccagnan, who signed the receiver to a four-year, $33.4 million contract extension that would keep him with the Jets through the 2022 season.
But, Enunwa injured his neck again in last season’s opener against Buffalo and missed the rest of the year.
His future with the Jets became even more uncertain in November, when he criticized the team during a Twitter rant. He said the Jets fined him $27,900 for missing two rehabilitation treatments, including one during which he took his wife, who is a military veteran, out to celebrate on Veterans Day. Enunwa also said at the time that doctors told him he had a 50% chance of resuming his playing career because of the neck injuries.
A day after last season ended, Enunwa said he was told he has spinal stenosis. He added that he didn’t need surgery this time around and remained hopeful he would resume his playing career.
“Do I expect to play? I would love to play,” Enunwa said. “It’s just about how well I heal up and then we’ll take it from there.”
Enunwa has 119 career receptions for 1,617 yards and five touchdowns in 41 games.
Bellamy, who turns 31 on May 18 played in just seven games last season after signing a two-year, $5 million deal with New York in the offseason.
While playing predominantly on special teams, Bellamy finished with two catches for 20 yards before being placed on injured reserve with his injured shoulder.
He’s scheduled to make $2.25 million this season. Bellamy has 78 career catches for 1,019 yards and five touchdowns in parts of eight NFL seasons with Kansas City, Washington, Chicago and the Jets.
JAGUARS: Veteran pass rusher Aaron Lynch signed a one-year contract with Jacksonville, giving the Jaguars more depth in case disgruntled defender Yannick Ngakoue decides to skip part of the season.
Lynch played 16 games for Chicago last year, totaling six tackles, two sacks and two passes defensed. Before his two seasons with the Bears, Lynch spent four years in San Francisco (2014-17). The 49ers drafted him in the fifth round in 2014.
To make room for Lynch and running back Chris Thompson on the roster, the Jaguars released running back Jeremy McNichols and defensive end Chuck Harris. Jacksonville signed Thompson on Friday.
Lynch has played in 73 NFL games over six seasons, notching 105 tackles, 20 sacks and 10 passes defensed.
He is the sixth free agent to sign a one-year deal with Jacksonville, following Thompson, defensive tackle Al Woods, cornerback Rashaan Melvin, guard Tyler Shatley and pass rusher Cassius Marsh.
Marsh and Lynch could help offset the potential loss of Ngakoue, who has no plans to sign his franchise tender and has asked to be traded.
BRETT FAVRE allegedly received $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare money for speeches and promotional work he didn’t perform, according to an audit of welfare fraud in the state.
The Hall of Fame quarterback, 50, was paid $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018 through his company, Favre Enterprises, under a contract that called for three speaking engagements, one radio spot and one keynote address, the 104-page audit released Monday said.
“Auditors were able to determine that the individual contracted did not speak nor was he present for those events,” the audit found.
“Due to the inability to verify that any work was performed in order to fulfill the contract, and due to the unreasonable amount paid, the entire payment of $1,100,000 paid in FY 2018 is questioned,” the audit said.
Favre, who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the New York Daily News.
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White said Monday that his office found that more than $94 million of federal grant money flowing through the Mississippi Department of Human Services was allegedly misspent, converted to personal use, spent on family members and friends or wasted.
The audit was released after a former Human Services director and five others were indicted on state charges of embezzling about $4 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds.
The defendants, charged earlier this year, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
TV: Charles Davis is moving from the Fox Sports booth to CBS. The network announced Davis will be an analyst for its NFL coverage and contributing to football coverage on CBS Sports Network.
Davis will join announcer Ian Eagle and reporter Evan Washburn on CBS’ No. 2 NFL crew. He replaces Dan Fouts, who was not retained by the network. Davis joined Fox in 2006 and had been the analyst on its No. 2 NFL team the past five seasons.
Davis and Eagle are likely to call at least one playoff game this season. CBS will have two games on wild-card weekend as part of the expanded playoffs.
GIANTS: The New York Giants have claimed former Dallas Cowboys’ backup quarterback Cooper Rush on waivers.
The Giants announced the move, saying it is contingent on Rush passing a physical. The make room on the 90-man roster, wide receiver Reggie White was waived.
Daniel Jones is the New York Giants’ starting quarterback. Rush joins Alex Tanney and Colt McCoy in competing for the backup job.
The move reunites Rush with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who spent nearly a decade as head coach of the Cowboys before joining Joe Judge’s staff in the offseason.
Rush was signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted rookie out of Central Michigan in 2017. He appeared in five regular-season games in three seasons, serving as a backup to Dak Prescott.
Rush completed 1,022 of 1,648 passes for 12,894 yards, 90 touchdowns and 55 interceptions in college.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
