What To Do At FB?

by Tim on Jan 22, 2008 8:51 PM CST in News

Bet you thought that fullback wasn't "sexy" enough for me to evaluate. Well, like the girl that gets more attractive with every beer, the idea of doing it got more intriguing with each passing minute. Plus, I'll be damned if I'm going to miss an opportunity to again link to Jon Abbate's story. So here's Part IV of the "What To Do" series...

Your Houston Texans currently boast the following gentlemen at fullback:

I have to be candid here. During the 2006-07 season, Jameel Cook made me question the existence of a kind and benevolent creator with his wretched habit of coughing up the ball like Doc Holliday coughed up blood. That, coupled with Vonta Leach's emergence, has relegated Cook to becoming almost exclusively a special teams player. In defense of Cook, he seems like he's almost always the first one down the field on kickoffs; the dude is a helluva gunner. Unfortunately, in today's NFL, where the salary cap is king and injuries limit the number of specialists a team can have, it's tremendously tough to reconcile paying more than a million cap dollars for someone whose role has morphed into almost strictly a special teams contributor, particularly when cheap alternatives (e.g., a healthy Jon Abbate) abound. Special teams talent or not, I do not think Jameel Cook is a Texan come September.

That would leave Houston with two (2) FBs, one of whom (Abbate) would likely be tapped to fill Cook's role on coverage teams. And there's always the possibility that one of the RBs who gets squeezed out of that rotation gets bumped to FB. Perhaps a bulked up Chris Taylor?

In the final analysis, I think the Texans are in good shape at FB. Not that it's typically a draft focus for any team, but I do not see a scenario where Smithiak goes FB in April or even in the free agent market. Now if we could just convince Kubes to stop lining Vonta Leach up out wide, we'd be in business.

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Comments

Maybe It's An Old Fashioned Idea

How about a FB that can do more than block? Maybe catch the ball out of the backfield 3-5 times a game and can carry the ball occasionally when in a short yardage situation? I'm thinking of a Daryl Johnston or Tom Rathman type of guy. Seems like a lost art.

by kozanack on Jan 22, 2008 10:18 PM CST reply actions

my my

Oh koz, I hope you were just being ironic with the Johnston reference.

(obviously, I kid because I love. still, please be nice to the waterboarders when they get there.)

by bigfatdrunk on Jan 22, 2008 10:36 PM CST up reply actions

Kozanack

As you're prone to do, you got me thinking again. Who was the last FB who was actually anything more than a lead blocker for his RB? In other words, the last guy who could actually be said to be a part of his team's offensive scheme?

The most recent player I could come up with was Larry Centers. Have pass-catching, running FBs gone the way of the dodo?

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Jan 23, 2008 3:22 PM CST up reply actions

Me, too

The prospect of Chris Taylor playing some FB got me thinking along those lines. If we have the right personnel for it, I'd love to see some Pro-set next season. I don't know why no one runs it anymore unless it is that you just don't see the right kind of FB for it in the NFL anymore. Surely that can be corrected. I would think the Rams could run the Pro-set with what Brian Leonard brings to the table.

by knave64 on Jan 23, 2008 10:55 PM CST up reply actions

www.HoustonDiehards.com

I gotta hand it to ya - I'm sure not planning on evaluating the FB situation. We're set with Leach for a while, and Cook needs to go oh... about a year ago. I hope Leach spends a significant part of the off-season chasing chickens around the farm and catching concrete blocks, because - damn. That guy seems to only catch one of every three or four passes thrown his way... yet, as you say - Kubiak can't keep himself from calling these bizarre out routes for him.

by HoustonDiehards on Jan 22, 2008 11:12 PM CST reply actions

Kyle Johnson perhaps?

I think he just got cut by the Broncos. I always liked him.. He was big-time on goal-line passing plays.

And vote "NO" to that terrible full-back flat pass. Nothing good will ever come of it. They need to change it to some sort of Kevin Faulk-like flat pass where cuts back inside after he gets to the sideline so he's actually running north when he catches the ball. That's what the Patriots do so well; almost every play for them has the receiver moving upfield as he catches it. Button-hooks are a thing of the past.

by Nashmeister on Jan 23, 2008 3:19 PM CST reply actions