I miss the days of the great NFL fullback (and I mean ‘great’). Here’s why.
Of all thirty-two teams in the National Football League, only seventeen active fullbacks are on their rosters. Gone are the days when you had a six-foot, two hundred forty-four pounder that the quarterback could rely on for extra pass protection or handle a variety of other vital functions. The QB could throw to the fullback when the middle linebacker or the weak side defensive end was on his way to a sack. A fullback could also throw a chip block on the outside linebacker or defensive end to buy the QB an extra two or three seconds to make a read.
Gone are the days when you needed that one hard-fought yard or two to get that much-needed first down or a game-tying/game-winning score. Gone are the days when you fullbacks would flare out to the flank on a screen behind the linemen to clear a path to the end zone ala the days of the Lombardi Power Sweep.
That’s because gone are the days of the big, hard running back, the likes of Jim Brown, Frank Gifford, Roger Craig, Marion Motley, Jim Taylor, and Larry Csonka. The fullback is a dying breed in the NFL.
Teams want receivers with speed to spread out a defense. When teams bring in four or five wide receivers into the formation, something has to give, and it’s usually the fullback that’s the odd player out. Offensive coordinators use more spread offenses now, leaving the fullback out of the equation. Teams want more passing because it brings more scoring and makes the game faster.
“Air” Coryell with QB Dan Fouts (courtesy, Chargers)
Let’s face it: the running game used to be featured more in the NFL than the passing game. Men like Sid Gillman and Don Coryell helped change that, the fathers of the passing game as they were. Their approach made the game more exciting, seeing a QB toss the ball to a speedy receiver who can run a forty-yard dash in 4.5 seconds or less. Fullbacks didn’t register in their game plan.
Fullbacks provide extra pass protection, and that necessary function hasn’t changed over the years. But these days, many teams use an extra lineman because the average size of an NFL tight end is 6’ 4” and weighs two hundred fifty-four pounds. Conventional wisdom says that a tight end has a better chance than a fullback of challenging a defensive end who averages 6’ 4” and weighs two hundred eighty-three pounds or an outside linebacker at 6’ 2” and weighs between two hundred twenty-five to two hundred forty-five pounds.
Historically, the fullback was also used for short passing routes and as a safety valve for the quarterback when a short gain avoids taking a sack for a loss. The fullback was also valuable on screens, with offensive linemen clearing the way. But, in today’s game, there are many bubble screens for wide receivers who can catch the ball in traffic. While some of those screens aren’t successful, teams still use them to keep the clock moving during the two-minute drill.
Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns (Photo, sportige.com)
The theme in the modern game is clear: it values speed and clock control, which puts the fullback’s role out of the spotlight. So, gone are the days of the hard-grinding offenses. Gone are the days of Jim Taylor grinding out tough yardage; Larry Csonka blowing through a line of stacked linebackers near the goal line for a touchdown; and Roger Craig catching a screen pass from Joe Montana and running, with high knees, into the end zone. Gone, too, are the days of Jim Brown running around and through tacklers all the way to the NFL Hall of Fame.
That’s because, in today’s game, the NFL fullback is almost like a dinosaur. In a few years, it will be extinct.
