A Clare Perspective: The Futility of Fullbacks?

Fullback is a bit of an anomaly in today’s NFL, a position that doesn’t even exist on many teams. At the time of writing this, and after assessing each team’s active roster, 13 teams do not have a player categorized as a fullback — something that would have been unheard of up until a handful of years ago, as two-back sets were common for decades.

The Patriots used a significant player in the past and that was James Develin. Develin had intense skills as a fullback but unfortunately, that is why he had to retire. From a post made on social media in April 2020: “Due to unforeseen complications from the injury that ended my season last year, I have decided it is both in my and my family’s best interest to retire from the game of football.”

Playing a very physical position can easily result in injury. Dan Vitale hung it up and he played only four years stating how his body was “ready to move on,” which is a shame because we never did get to see him play as a Patriot. WEEI’s Andy Hart mentioned on my podcast (A Clare Perspective) back in March how he saw Danny Vitale as more of a Kyle Juszczyk type of player, a super back to maybe catch the ball. An interesting tidbit here is I had a nice deep dive into every team’s roster, the San Francisco 49ers have two fullbacks on their roster; Kyle Juszczyk and Josh Hokit. Now both at 6 feet 1 inch and weighing 235 and 225 pounds respectively these individuals on paper have a similar appearance, and with Josh being 7 years his junior perhaps the 49ers were already grooming their Juszczyk replacement in the event that he left in free agency. The 49ers must feel fullback is an important piece…

But I digress.

Dalton Keene was drafted as a tight end, however, the first indication of his possible ‘fullbackage’ (not sure if that works as well as ‘tight endage’) was his number assignment. Used in college as more of an H back/fullback hybrid than a tight end shows Keene’s versatility and possibly why he may be the fullback of the future. Another hinting as to why the Patriots were comfortable losing Dan Vitale was perhaps Dalton Keene’s skill set is leaning towards more what Dan can do. But, he lost plenty of time during the crazy 2020 season due to a neck injury and later in the season a knee injury, which is why we haven’t seen much playing time for this guy.

It’s no secret that setting up with a two tight end package is going to be key to the Patriots’ offense this year, can the use of a fullback help or hinder this? Is versatility or pure blocking ability the key to the Patriots fullback position this season?

2020 did see Jakob Johnson increase his skills on his previous year. Whilst seemingly developing into a traditional fullback type, lining up at the back, blocking, perhaps getting the ball a little and being used in motion to get mismatches in the passing game he had big shoes to fill in the absence of James Develin. If his ball-catching ability becomes a strength, this fullback becomes a much more versatile player.

We know Belichick likes player versatility, and that’s understandable, but even so, could having a fullback line up tip the Patriots hand that they are simply running the ball?

I would argue not necessarily as fullbacks are used for pass protection purposes, and in this situation would the Patriots be best with Jakob Johnson? And when you absolutely need one yard, a more true fullback gives you the best opportunity to do that.

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Is 2021 the year for Dalton Keene to develop? We have just found out that he has been placed on the active/physically unable to perform list (PUP) meaning he isn’t ready to practice and although he can come off PUP at anytime, is this almost rookie still limited with either or both of those injuries and what does that mean for his future as a Patriot? The Patriots moved up into the third round to select Keene, do the Patriots look over what he ‘cost’ them and feel it’s too soon to give up on him?

Will Johnson continue improving his skill set to become a significantly versatile offensive piece or will the Patriots simply shelve a lot of the fullback action, and only use one in goalline short-yardage situations?

So whilst we head into training camp (Days folks!!! Just days away!!!) The questions at fullback may be IF, let alone WHO.

Go Pats!

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Clare L Cooper is a special contributor and columnist for Full Press Coverage Patriots and a writer for Pats Propoganda(.com). Her podcast ‘A Clare Perspective’ can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker and most places from which you download your podcasts as can One Patriots Place where she shares the mic with her two co-hosts each and every week!

The current episode of A Clare Perspective, where Clare chats with NBC Sports Boston’s very own Tom E. Curran is the tenth in the series and Clare would like to thank all the fans who have been with her on this amazing journey so far!