Dying breed: Mike Tolbert thrives as NFL phases out fullbacks
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mike Tolbert made the NFL’s All-Pro team. No offense to Tolbert’s skills, but it was mostly because he plays a dying position.
Tolbert plays fullback for the Carolina Panthers. The fullback fraternity gets thinner every year. There has been a massive NFL philosophy shift over the last 20 years with offenses preferring a third receiver or second tight end instead of a second running back in the backfield, but Tolbert doesn’t think fullbacks will be extinct 20 years from now.
“There will always be fullbacks, man,” Tolbert said. “You can’t replace a stud like a fullback.”
Still, Tolbert is a rarity. Hall of Fame coach John Madden found the Panthers’ regular use of a fullback so refreshing that he congratulated Panthers coach Ron Rivera for it.
“One of the nice notes I got this year really was how pleased [Madden] was to see us do things the old-fashioned way, and that’s to run the football,” Rivera said. “He and I talked about the fact we’re one of the few teams that still has a fullback out on the football field. Granted, it’s only for about 35-40 percent of the time, but we still use a fullback and we still run power.”
Even Tolbert isn’t the typical old-school fullback, who lined up in the I formation and blocked every play. Tolbert said he probably is a fullback on about 50 percent of his snaps, and he played about 45 percent of the Panthers’ snaps this season. He carried the ball 62 times this season. But even as a part-time fullback, he’s still a bit of an NFL dinosaur.
The Denver Broncos, Carolina’s opponent in Super Bowl 50, don’t even have a fullback on the roster. When they needed one on a third-and-1 against the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game, they lined up guard Max Garcia in the backfield.
Tolbert likes being a fullback. He played linebacker in high school. They asked in college, at Coastal Carolina, if wanted to play linebacker or running back. When he said he’d be happy playing either, he became a running back. And at 5-9 and 250 pounds, it was natural that he evolved into being a fullback.
When it’s suggested that fullbacks are being phased out of the NFL game, Tolbert explains why fullbacks have more value than they’re given credit for.
“You look at the things fullbacks do,” Tolbert said. “You run the ball. You catch the ball. You run block. You’re pass protectors. You play all special teams. You have to account for that: Fullback is one of the most versatile players on the field. You can do so much. But a lot of them can’t do what I can do, because I can do so much and do it well.”
The Panthers are a dying breed too. Carolina led the NFL with 526 rushing attempts. When you’re 15-1 you’ll have plenty of games in which you’re running more to chew up the clock, but it’s not just that. The Panthers want to run the ball. That’s their offensive identity. In a pass-happy league, the Panthers buck a trend.
“I think every team in the league wants to establish a run game,” Tolbert said. “We’ve just done it a little bit better. We like the fact that people know we’re going to run the ball and we can run the ball.”
Many teams pass way more than they run, even if it’s a lot harder to find an elite quarterback than it is to find pieces to build a running game. Maybe the Panthers’ success will lead a revolution back to old school football. Tolbert thinks it’s possible.
“Everything comes back in style every now and then,” Tolbert said. “Hopefully we can lead the revitalization of that.”
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
