The once-extinct fullback position is seeing a drastic revival– in a way that emulates not only the past, but looks ahead to the future
The fullback as we know it is dead. The Mike Alstotts of the world have gone the way of the dinosaur. However, there is a possibility for a renaissance, and it may not be as far-fetched as one might think.
The key to the revival of the beloved fullback starts with versatility. As the college game leaks into the NFL, you will see the H-Back become more popularized. An H-Back, in simple terms, is just a moving tight end, a fullback, and a short down running back.
Having a guy who is a jack of all trades is any offensive coordinator’s dream. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan already uses this principle in his wide-zone system with Kyle Juszczyk– possibly one of the more unique and tantalizing players in the NFL.
Juszczyk is primarily used as a lead blocker but the Niners have used him in different spots to maximize his road grading abilities. He is motioned across the formation to give him a running start for the 236-pound back to fester up some inertia behind his blocks. A testament to his versatility, the 49ers use his athleticism to line him up at tight end to arc and seal off backers at the second level as well.
He could also be used as a third-down back as San Fran tends to not have running backs who can pass protect at a high level due to their scheme. Miami’s Mike McDaniel has also started to adopt these running game principles. If you haven’t already figured it out by now, the NFL is a copy-cat league and don’t be surprised as the fullback starts making a full-fledged comeback in years to come. Some teams have already taken the initiative as coaching staffs turn over and the college game starts creeping its way up to the big leagues.
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Now you may be asking who can fill these roles as the NFL has slowly gone away from these kinds of players on the roster. There’s a few I can think of either going into their rookie year or have just having finished up their first-year campaign that could easily fill this mold. First, Chigoziem Okonkwo, the Tennessee Titans tight end. At 6’2 244 pounds he is a little undersized for the traditional in-line tight end role but he is almost identical to Juszczyk in frame and stature (6’1″, 236 lbs.).
At Virginia Tech he had a hard time even getting the rock, showing limited experience running the ball but when he did it was explosive. Three carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns is nothing to put down and with his legitimate athleticism at a 4.52 40-yard dash time he was able to take one of those carries 54 yards to the house against Illinois.
Hunter Luepke comes in at the same exact height and weight as Juszczyk. He has plenty of experience playing all over the field as an H-Back. The North Dakota State product had over 2000 yards of total offense and accounted for 33 scores in his career. He was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys and could be a huge piece for them this season.
I believe they could come out in 21 personnel sets forcing the opposing defenses to keep an extra linebacker on the field. Dallas could split either their new draftee Deuce Vaughn or freshly paid Tony Pollard out wide creating a match-up nightmare for whoever has to cover them while still giving them a serious running threat in the backfield.
Luepke averaged 6.1 yards a carry over his career at NDSU so he could be a great third-down bruiser for Dallas after Zeke’s departure. The last player I am going to talk about is Connor Heyward. He is the smallest of the trio at 5’11 233 and the slowest at a 4.77 40 but he made the transition from full-time running back to H-back during his time at Michigan State. He shows that a slower running back or an undersized tight end can find a role by being able to be versatile.
A Paul Hornung finalist, the award tends to be an indicator for future success in the league as from 2012-2020 almost all the winners have become serviceable players in the NFL at a minimum and have some studs mixed in there as well (Odell Beckham Jr., Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, and DeVonta Smith). He has the versatility as a runner, receiver and special teamer to stick in the NFL for a very long time.
Do I think the change will happen overnight? Hell no. But I do think teams around the league will value these guys who can do a little bit of everything as paying one guy to wear multiple hats will open up more roster spots for the team. I doubt there will be a guy with Larry Centers’ amount of production anytime soon, but I can see guys around the league playing fullback getting 5-8 touches a game while still being valuable contributors blocking. Paying a guy 3 million a year to do that would make a lot of GMs happy.
