Solely two offenses lined up in 21 personnel on first down greater than 30 p.c of the time final season — the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins.
5 groups didn’t take a first-down snap with two operating backs on the sphere and 22 groups leveraged 21 personnel on lower than 10 p.c of first-down performs. The worth of a operating again is underneath the microscope as gamers battle to safe long-term offers, however coaches Mike McDaniel and Kyle Shanahan have gamers that drastically change the equation.
Alec Ingold was on the sphere for 39.55 p.c of Miami’s offensive snaps final season. In San Fransisco, Kyle Juszczyk logged 47.45 p.c of offensive snaps. The similarities aren’t any shock, contemplating McDaniel and Shanahan spent a few years working collectively.
Ninth-year operating again Raheem Mostert signed a two-year deal this offseason to stay in Miami after 5 seasons with the 49ers. On Wednesday, he defined what it’s prefer to share the sphere with a number of the league’s prime fullbacks.
“I imply clearly you see what’s happening with what I had in San Fran but in addition with Alec Ingold — He’s on the prime of his recreation proper now,” Mostert mentioned. “Should you see the way in which he provides these hits and is catching out of the backfield and he’s making all of those unbelievable performs, I give him nothing however credit score simply because I do know what it seems to be like. I’ve a great fullback in entrance of me. He’s that man.
“He’s the one which’s the down and soiled man, the one which’s making an attempt to do his greatest for the workforce and he’s going to place his physique on the road it doesn’t matter what. He accepts challenges, as you may inform, and to me, he conquers these challenges, whether or not it’s small or large.”
Working backs — not to mention fullbacks — aren’t well-liked in right this moment’s NFL, however that doesn’t imply they’ve disappeared. Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. averaged 4.9 speeding yards per try final season. Ingold was liable for setting the tone.
“I really feel like with the fullbacks proper now with the sport that we’ve and the offense that we’ve, they’re our eyes,” Mostert mentioned. “That’s one thing that we use within the room. They’re those that see the outlet earlier than the outlet opens up, they usually’re those who must hit these holes to ensure that us to hit them as properly.
“They at all times say, ‘Let the fullback’s eyes be your eyes,’ and I really consider in that.”
