The NFL Needs to Revive the Fullback
Photo courtesy of Nhat V. Meyer | MediaNews Group | Mercury News | Getty Images
The NFL has a glaring issue taking place in the backfield.
Running backs have officially become the most expendable position in the NFL, and teams are hesitant to offer them long-term contracts. The premier backs in the NFL have been engaged in an uphill battle during the offseason, trying to fight against the narrative that running backs have the shortest shelf life in the NFL.
But running backs aren't the only backfield position suffering in a league transitioning to a consistent air raid attack. The fight to save running backs has been much more mainstream and prominent than the fight to save their right-hand man.
Fullbacks, one of the premier positions in the early stages of the NFL, are becoming obsolete in today's league. While a sad truth, it’s about time that the NFL teams try to push for a comeback for the most unappreciated position in the game.
The Dwindling Numbers
The fullback has been dying ever since offenses began shifting their focus to the passing game, rather than the ground game.
In 2022, Pro Football Focus (PFF), an NFL player evaluation site, was only able to identify and grade six fullbacks across the entire league. The list of names are slim, with casual fans likely being able to only recognize the top two names on the list: Patrick Ricard of the Baltimore Ravens and Kyle Juszczyk of the San Francisco 49ers. The other names consisted of Alec Ingold from the Miami Dolphins, Keith Smith for the Atlanta Falcons, Andrew Beck for the Houston Texans, and Jakob Johnson for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Graphic courtesy of Pro Football Focus
While the other 26 teams do have a fullback on the roster, they don’t see enough snaps throughout the season to qualify for a PFF grade, hence showing that teams are slowly starting to shy away from keeping on the roster.
That mindset needs to change from the rest of the league, as the impact fullbacks carry is invaluable, and normally never shows up on the stat sheet at the end of the season.
The Value
Fullbacks hold a special value within the offense. They often act as the lead blocker on the edge rusher or linebacker, paving the way for the running back to run. On the passing game, fullbacks act as an extra blocker in the backfield who can combat the blitz, or even run routes and catch passes. Since blocking doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, fans often never realize the true impact and importance these players have on the offense.
Many of the game’s greatest rushing attacks or running backs often attribute their success to the lead blocking from their fullback, which often goes unnoticed.
Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing yards, benefitted throughout the majority of his career from the lead blocking of Daryl “Moose” Johnston, one of the greatest blocking fullbacks in league history.
Photo courtesy of Paul Spinelli | AP
With Johnston as lead blocker, Emmitt Smith led the league in rushing for four seasons, and eclipsed 1,500 yards three times. Without Johnston, Smith only ran for 1,000 yards twice and never came close to putting up double digit touchdown numbers.
The benefit of having a dominant blocking fullback is providing easy rushing lanes and being the lead blocker for the play. Smith himself admitted that he would not have been able to break the rushing record without the great blocking of Johnston with a tribute during his Hall of Fame speech.
Historically, fullbacks have paved the way for the game’s greatest rushers. In today’s NFL, fullbacks still have the same impact on the ground game.
If we look back at the six teams who had fullbacks graded by PFF, we can easily see the impact they had on the team’s rushing statistics.
For the 2022 season, Baltimore ranked second in team rushing yards, Atlanta ranked third, and San Francisco ranked seventh. This is likely due to the fact that these teams depend on the ground game. Although the Raiders were not in the top-10 for rushing offense, Josh Jacobs led the league with over 1,600 yards on the ground.
It’s no surprise that each of these teams rank high in rushing offense.
Baltimore has the luxury of Pro-Bowler Patrick Ricard leading the way for Lamar Jackson and J.K. Dobbins. Rookie Tyler Allgeier eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing behind the lead blocking of Keith Smith. Behind Kyle Juszczyk’s lead blocking, the 49ers have consistently ranked towards the top in total rushing offense, despite a revolving door of running backs in recent memory. Josh Jacobs was able to lead the league in rushing behind a mediocre offensive line largely due in part to the lead blocking of fullback Jakob Johnson.
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
The correlation is clear. Each team that consistently fields out a backfield with a running back and an elite blocking fullback normally translates into a top rushing offense.
If the statistics are there, and history can back it up, why are teams so hesitant to keep a fullback on the roster?
The Backfield Today
The answer to this is likely in the way teams view the backfield in the game today.
Running backs are now catching passes out of the backfield, and becoming hybrid backs. Today’s running backs are now being seen lining up as receivers, becoming primary targets, and competing with receivers for passing targets, something that was never seen previously.
With pure runners not having as high of value on the market, the purpose of keeping a fullback to blocking purposes slowly becomes obsolete.
The league’s emphasis is shifting towards offenses becoming more of an air-raid style, rather than smash-mouth football. Teams rarely adopt a pure ground game offense nowadays besides the Tennessee Titans. Due to the lack of mobility many fullbacks have in the passing game, their effectiveness slowly dwindles.
However, NFL offenses should keep these players rostered. They benefit the run game greater than the offensive line can, and provide value on both the ground and passing attack for an offense. If NFL teams don’t want to become one-dimensional passing offenses, fullbacks are certainly necessary to create an effective ground game.
For that reason, the NFL should make an effort to save the position.
