LeSean McCoy begged Frank Gore to come to Buffalo Bills
By Avery Duncan
LeSean McCoy must’ve been a happy man when the Buffalo Bills signed Frank Gore during the 2019 off-season.
When you’ve been in the NFL for as long as Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy has, you tend to make friends. When those friends become free agents, able to choose their next team, the other may attempt to recruit them to their respective teams. McCoy didn’t do that with his friend and now teammate Frank Gore; instead, he begged his long-time workout buddy to come to Buffalo.
McCoy, during an interview with Kimberly Jones for NFL Network, said that Buffalo approached him about signing Gore in the 2018 off-season. McCoy was open to the idea, but it didn’t happen, as he signed with the rival Miami Dolphins (Gore’s hometown). That wasn’t going to happen again in 2019, as McCoy said;
"We’ve actually been friends before he [Gore] got here. We train together. I’m always constantly trying to find a way to improve my game. Look for motivation. Who not better to learn from than Frank? I actually was begging him to come."
Luckily, McCoy’s wish became true. The Bills signed Gore to a one-year, $2 million deal. The two, after a total of 24 seasons of play, will finally get to play with one another. The pairing is a historical one; their combined total of 25,354 rushing yards is the most by a duo in NFL history, by a wide margin.
Though both are aging — McCoy is 30, Gore, 36 — and are free agents next spring, the two could prove to be a dynamic duo in 2019. Gore, at this point of his career, is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, McCoy can follow suit if he rebounds from a bad 2018 season. McCoy, a shifty back, and Gore, a powerful back, should prove to be a solid pairing before considering their resumes.
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If nothing else, having two running backs that shaped their era of football should be beneficial to the locker room. Younger backs T.J. Yeldon, Devin Singletary, and Marcus Murphy should be taking in as many notes as they can on McCoy and Gore and their habits. It’s not every day a backfield has 11 Pro-Bowl appearances and 25,354 yards in the books.