Super Bowl 2020: 49ers' Kyle Juszczyk brings NFL fullbacks back from brink of extinction

Nate Davis | USA TODAY

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MIAMI – The NFL fullback has been on the endangered species list for at least a decade.

As the league trended in the direction of three-receiver sets and exotic passing schemes, the typical fullback saw his playing time diminish and then watched as some teams even opted not to carry the position on 53-man rosters.

But if science-fiction movies like "Jurassic Park" have taught us anything, it's that "life finds a way." And it definitely seems that Kyle Juszczyk, the four-time Pro Bowler of the San Francisco 49ers, is showing how fullbacks need to evolve in order to thrive anew.

"If all you can do is play fullback, you're probably not gonna make the roster. You have to be able to do other things. For me, that's playing in space, being able to play in the slot, out wide, play as the halfback on third down," Juszczyk told USA TODAY Sports.

"You have to add value. And if all you can do is just be a sledgehammer on third-and-short or on the goal line, there's just not enough value there for a team to keep you around."

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Value hasn't been a problem on or off the field for Juszczyk.

The Niners vaulted him to the top of his positional scale in 2017, signing him away from the Baltimore Ravens with a four-year, $21 million deal. He's responded by settling in as a crucial part of the NFC's top-ranked rushing offense – even though he's only carried the ball 18 times during three seasons in San Francisco.

Juszczyk's numbers as a receiver are more impressive (83 catches for 878 yards since 2017), but don't let his modest impact on the box score fool you.

"He's kind of a Swiss Army knife out there. We use him in so many different ways – different motions, different blocking schemes, catching the ball out of the backfield or evening lining up split wide," said 49ers offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey.

"Juice is so good — he's just a football player. There's no real label to put on him. I know he's listed as a fullback ... but he's capable of so many different things, and he's such an asset to our offense and such a weapon for us – him and (all-pro tight end George) Kittle being interchangeable parts.

"He gets the job done every time."

It's been a transition for Juszczyk, a fourth-round pick in 2013 who played tight end at Harvard.

"I just love being involved. I'm not gonna sit here and say I don't like touching the ball, because I definitely do," he laughed. "But what I've always told myself is that the better I can block, the more opportunities I'm gonna get to be on the field. The more opportunities I have on the field, the more opportunities I get to catch the ball. ... I've always stuck to that mentality.

"I'm gonna be honest, I'd rather catch the first down – I grew up as a receiver first," he continued. "But I've adapted the mentality of really embracing blocking and being happy for the guys whom I open things for."

It's been a necessary transformation in an ever-changing sport, one that no longer puts a premium on the way the position used to be played.

"I do see it transitioning," Michael Robinson, formerly a Pro Bowl fullback for the Seahawks and now an NFL Network analyst, told USA TODAY Sports. "Yeah, there may be a person who plays the position that says fullback on the roster, but it definitely has to be a versatile person. It can't be a guy that's just concerned with running it up in there and just isolation blocks all day.

"If you truly look at even Juszczyk, he blocks half a man – shields him off – it's not the big blowup blocks that we were accustomed to seeing fullbacks have."

We're not accustomed to seeing fullbacks in some of those uncharacteristic jobs Robinson suggested. Juszczyk might line up anywhere, dangerous enough that the 49ers even use him as a decoy since most defenses respect him enough that such misdirection is quite often effective.

But his Super Bowl LIV counterpart, the Chiefs' Anthony Sherman – a Pro Bowler himself in 2018 – has only played 9% of the offensive snaps each of the past two seasons. However Sherman has been deployed on more than 70% of the special teams plays. Heck, the man who replaced Juszczyk in Baltimore, Patrick Ricard, moonlights as a defensive lineman.

"Your fullback has to have another role on the team," said Robinson.

Of course, just having any role on the team counts as progress.

"What led to the extinction of the fullback, or teams getting away from the fullback, is the success that people were seeing spreading the field out. But I think what's kinda bringing us back is that defenses had to respond to those three-receiver sets by getting smaller linebackers – safety types – that were fast and could play in open field," said Juszczyk, who's 6-1, 240.

"Why you're starting to see a little bit of a resurgence in fullbacks is that now offenses can take advantage of that. By putting me on a smaller guy like that, that's an advantage for us. Fullbacks can move those smaller guys around.

"And I think if you look at arguably some of the top offenses in the NFL – I'll say ourselves, Kansas City, New Orleans, Baltimore, Minnesota, Green Bay – all those guys play with fullbacks. ... So I do think with that success, more people will start to move back towards fullbacks."

Said Sherman: "I think it's one of those things where history repeats itself. There used to be a lot of fullbacks, and slowly there's more and more every year – teams are using them again. It will continue to grow."

Still, there aren't players of Juszczyk's caliber simply lying around.

McGlinchey, who says Juszczyk has earned "honorary membership" on the offensive line, marvels at his ability to mask mistakes by teammates while making such corrections appear seamless. He touts the fact that Juszczyk can pancake a defensive back or linebacker just as easily as a defensive end.

"His skill set is unparalleled," Niners running back Raheem Mostert, who also played with Juszczyk in Baltimore, said.

"He's really the best."

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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis

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