everybody has a different standard for what a HOFer should be at each position. My standard for RB - and what generally gets RBs into the HOF- is 10,000 yards rushing. Frank Gore had that after 2014, the 10 season mark of his career, which I believe is right around where most HOF RBs hit the 10,000 yard mark. So if you want to say everything after that was stat padding, ok, but he was still a HOFer at the 10 season mark.
I agree with you that Frank Gore is not at the level of AP, Emmitt Smith, or Barry Sanders, but you’re talking about 3 of the greatest there. Frank Gore is certainly at the level of Jerome Bettis, Edgerrin James, and Curtis Martin, all 3 of whom are in the HOF. Speaking of Emmitt Smith... Gore’s career year for rushing was 1695 yards. Emmitt Smith only had 2 seasons higher than that, and both those were less than 100 yards more. Emmitt also had 4 seasons of stat padding. Very few aside from Cowboy fans consider him better than Sanders, Payton,or Jim Brown. I don’t consider him better than Marshall Faulk either. He padded his stats at the end of his career just like Gore, the only difference is that Gore has managed 7 stat padding seasons where Emmitt only managed 4.
