Programming note: Yes, I’m back at it. At least, I hope I am. I still would like to have all the positional analyses done before free agency officially begins next week; the perspicacious among you will realize that means more than one post per day, given the number of posts and the number of days remaining. If you doubt me sticking to that after a three week interlude with no posting (for various life-related reasons), I understand. That likely will means the posts won’t be quite as (over-)detailed as normal, something I was considering doing anyway. My little hiatus also means I won’t be doing separate previews of potential Titans free agent targets; if there’s a position that seems likely to be hit in free agency, like right tackle, I may mention briefly some of the potential fits, but won’t go in detail in assessing any of them. Unless I change my mind when it comes time to write that post. As always, this is an idiosyncratic work in progress with occasional pretensions toward a unifying theme and very, very many detours along the way.
After quarterback and running back, our next stop around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we head into the 2015 offseason is fullback.
The first question is the one that I brought up when I did the preseason positional analysis and before that in last offseason’s positional analysis, is it worth having a separate fullback positional analysis in the first place? Is fullback an important enough position in a Ken Whisenhunt offense that it deserves to be separately analyzed, or should I just lump it into the RB positional analysis?
In defense of having a separate fullback positional analysis, the Titans carried a fullback on their roster in 2014. His name was Jackie Battle, and he played in every single game. When he was in the game on offense, he was overwhelmingly a fullback, blocking to support his teammates, and rarely touched the ball (5 carries, 5 receptions on 5 targets). On the other hand, Battle was a special teams player more than an offensive one (112 offensive snaps, 11.6% of the time vs. 323 special teams snaps, 69.0% of the time (not that overall percentage of special teams snaps is meaningful)).
That 11.6% of the time was right in line with how often Whisenhunt’s fullback in San Diego in 2013 played, suggesting a broad-level continuity of offensive thought. On the other hand, Battle’s reps on offense varied a fair amount from game to game, from a high of 17 in the season-opening win against Kansas City to just 1 against the Colts in Week 4 and a couple weeks with 2 (14 against the Giants, 17 against the Colts). There’s almost an argument that a more successful Titans team would have featured a lot more two back running and Battle would have played a lot more; on the other hand, the Titans had games where they could have run a fair amount, like the win against Jacksonville and the next week against Washington, and Battle didn’t crack double-digit snaps in either of those games.
Most likely, the Titans fullback in 2015 will be asked to perform a role like Le’Ron McClain in 2013 and Battle in 2014, to play rarely some games, more in others, on the whole not much, but to be a contributor on special teams as a requirement for a roster spot. Overall roster versatility suggests to me the Titans would be well-served if this player were a tight end/H-back type rather than a pure fullback. Battle’s secondary value on offense was as Another Power Back, generally with defensive lineman Karl Klug (14 offensive snaps) as the fullback and at least one extra offensive lineman on the field in heavy sets. His carries were generally successful (all in what Football Outsiders defines as Power situations, all with one yard to go, and four of five were successful), but I would hope the Titans learned their lesson from Shonn Greene about backs with a mystical ability to convert short yardage.
Battle, 31, is a free agent this offseason. I think the Titans could find a younger, more effective blocker who could also be a strong special teams contributor.
I will discuss Klug with the defensive linemen; I do not expect his work as a fullback in short yardage power situations to have a significant impact on his potential future with the Titans.
Conclusion-Type Things
I expect the Titans to have a fullback in the roster in 2015; Ken Whisenhunt’s history strongly suggests he likes one. My guess is that that player is probably not currently on the roster. Whoever that player is, fullback will not be a significant role in the Titans’ offense in 2015, and there may not be a fullback positional analysis come next preseason.
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