Does Chan Gailey Make Use Of The Fullback Position

Yesterday I released my very early, 53 man roster prediction, in that prediction I included a FB in Tommy Bohanon. Now I personally don't rate Tommy as a good fullback, but at the moment, he doesn't face much competition on the roster.

A lot of people asked if Chan Gailey uses a fullback in his offense, and although I thought he did, I didn't have a conclusive answer, so I went back to have a look at the 2010,2011 and 2012 Buffalo team as well as the 2008 Kansas City team where Chan was the offensive coordinator.

One thing I think we need to remember, it's a common perception that Chan Gailey doesn't have a specific offense that he runs with every team. His offense is based on space, disguise and finding that x factor to separate his team from the opposing defense.

Saying that, let us have a look at the Jets use of the FB last year. The Jets ran around 1,100 offensive snaps and of those snaps the FB was included on 208 (Bohanon 54, Connor 154).

2008 Kansas City - Mike Cox had 374 snaps as s fullback, but just one carry.

2010 Buffalo - Corey McIntyre had 300 snaps and 4 rushing attempts.

2011 Buffalo - Corey McIntyre had 104 snaps with 0 rushing attempts.

2012 Buffalo - Corey McIntyre had 100 snaps and Dorin Dickerson had 97, 1 rushing attempt between them.

It's interesting because every single year it seems as though Chan elects to have a fullback on the roster. Every single year he doesn't use them in his rushing attack and every single year they are included in around 10-20% of the overall team snaps.

There is a good chance that we carry a fullback this year, but a fullback doesn't play a significant role in the Gailey offense. So if we end camp and both Stacy and Ridley are having a good one and Bohanon is bombing, I could see a situation where we would keep 4 running backs and get rid of the fullback.

Some of the top fullbacks in the league play around 40% of their teams offensive snaps. Guys like Bruce Miller in San Francisco (43.6%), Kyle Juszczyk in Baltimore (42.2%) and Marcel Reece in Oakland (37.4%).However the majority of fullbacks will play between 10-20%.

Personally I think there is an argument for having a hybrid FB/TE on the roster, usually under the 3rd TE spot, that offers more value when you are able to carry another RB. I think we may explore that option when it comes to cut time.