Taking a break from WR my mind wandered to my favorite offensive position. Despite their virtual invisibility in the NFL I still get excited on the rare occassion that talk turns to the full back. So I did some checking on NFL.com to see to what extent the FB mattered in the league last season.
Here's what I dug up: Total no. of FBs on NFL rosters 51
Total no. that actually carried the ball at least once 31
Total carries and yds. for all FB 324 for 975 yds.
Total TD for all FB 15
Last year average FB carried 10x for 31yds and half a TD
Nine FB scored touchdowns, the most notable being Heath Evans (NE 3),Greg Jones (Jax 2),Mike Kerney (NO 2), Cecil Sapp (DEN 2), Mike Sellers (WAS 2), and four others (HOU,CHI,ATL,SEA)had 1. Thomas Tapeh had 5 carries for 18 yards,no touchdowns.
Lorenzo Neal,maybe the best known FB last year,carried 13x for 32yds and 0 TD.
Jason McKie of the Bears (yay! A Temple guy) had a TD but only carried six times.
Now there are two big aspects of the FB not taken into account with these numbers.First,blocking.The main job of a FB in any system.Secondly,short yardage downs.The 22 FB who didn't score are splitting up 377 total yards of offense. Carey Davis(PIT) and Leonard Vickers(CLE) are the head of the class here.Conversely, there were 11 guys who had less than 10 yards all year.
So there's the numbers. FB are situational guys when it comes to moving the ball; it's hard to judge their worth without seeing everything they do on the field.I'd like to think it could be a key position in today's NFL and it would seem five or six teams agree.
Oh,as for Josh Parry: He was a Seahawk last season. CAR 0 YDS 0 TD 0
Here's what I dug up: Total no. of FBs on NFL rosters 51
Total no. that actually carried the ball at least once 31
Total carries and yds. for all FB 324 for 975 yds.
Total TD for all FB 15
Last year average FB carried 10x for 31yds and half a TD
Nine FB scored touchdowns, the most notable being Heath Evans (NE 3),Greg Jones (Jax 2),Mike Kerney (NO 2), Cecil Sapp (DEN 2), Mike Sellers (WAS 2), and four others (HOU,CHI,ATL,SEA)had 1. Thomas Tapeh had 5 carries for 18 yards,no touchdowns.
Lorenzo Neal,maybe the best known FB last year,carried 13x for 32yds and 0 TD.
Jason McKie of the Bears (yay! A Temple guy) had a TD but only carried six times.
Now there are two big aspects of the FB not taken into account with these numbers.First,blocking.The main job of a FB in any system.Secondly,short yardage downs.The 22 FB who didn't score are splitting up 377 total yards of offense. Carey Davis(PIT) and Leonard Vickers(CLE) are the head of the class here.Conversely, there were 11 guys who had less than 10 yards all year.
So there's the numbers. FB are situational guys when it comes to moving the ball; it's hard to judge their worth without seeing everything they do on the field.I'd like to think it could be a key position in today's NFL and it would seem five or six teams agree.
Oh,as for Josh Parry: He was a Seahawk last season. CAR 0 YDS 0 TD 0
