FS Minkah Fitzpatrick has been spared the brutality of colliding with a lineman playing fullback in practice thus far with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a sight that he said he was very much not looking forward to. There’s a good chance somebody in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform is going to have to come to grips with tonight, however.
They broke out the fullback package for third-year OL Kendrick Green during Friday Night Lights a week ago. He said after practice that he wasn’t expecting it to be anything more than a one-time thing. Yet since then he’s found himself working on the JUGS machine and bouncing on the medicine ball.
“I definitely will say practicing playing fullback and tight end is a lot more fun than playing offensive line”, he said with a smile on his face, via the team’s website. “I understand the offense, so I typically know what the tight ends and fullbacks are doing, playing center, because I’ve got to understand everything, the big picture, so it’s kind of an easy transition for me”.
Green has previously told reporters that he did play some fullback all the way back in high school, though he was primarily a defensive lineman. It wasn’t until he got to college that he was asked to move to the offensive line.
That remains his primary focus, but I’m sure he’s hoping to get into tonight’s game as a fullback as well. Will he? “I have no idea”, he said. “I’ve just got to be ready on the fly, be adjustable, be adaptable. Ready for whatever”. He added that the coaches “haven’t told me a thing”.
Head coach Mike Tomlin said on Saturday that they began working with Green in the backfield last year preparing for the Baltimore Ravens, using him to emulate fullback Patrick Ricard. Ricard is now working with the offensive line, coincidentally.
He said that Green was helping “[his] cause and ours” by embracing the opportunity to wear different hats, but on Wednesday stressed the importance of doing that in-game. “It’s significant, not only him, but anyone. What you see out here is one thing; what you see in the stadium is another”.
In other words, it’s pretty important that he does get on the field tonight as a fullback. It could go a long way toward determining his value for a spot on the 53-man roster. Right now, he figures to be in a contentious battle for a potential ninth and final spot along the offensive line.
Candidates for that slot include veteran T Le’Raven Clark, C Ryan McCollum, and rookie Spencer Anderson, who has played every position along the line since training camp opened. Kevin Dotson might not want to consider his roster spot quite locked in yet, either.
If Green can offer situational value, he can make the team and get himself dressed as the eighth lineman as somebody who can come onto the field as an extra blocker anywhere they want to put him. The first true test is tonight.
