Alex Armah is a second year fullback for the Carolina Panthers. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 draft, but was waived during final roster cuts of that same year. The Panthers brought him back after putting Greg Olsen on injured reserve with his first broken foot and he has been with the team ever since.

Most of Armah’s press has focused on the versatility in the inherent in his athleticism. He is the fullback who can move like a tight end. He also has a lot of confidence in his basketball game.

That’s weird, I don’t see my picture on here. https://t.co/AIeooURl8o — Alex Armah Jr. (@Alex_Armah) February 9, 2019

The story of the Panthers’ backfield in 2018 was the emergence of Christian McCaffrey. What doesn’t get mentioned is that emergence came without the benefit of a fullback as a lead blocker. Alex Armah was only on the field for about 11% of the Panthers’ snaps on offense. Compare that to McCaffrey’s 91%. Within his snaps, Armah was given 10 total touches: nine carries for 15 yards and two touchdowns and one reception for five yards.

There are two ways to look at those numbers.

The first is to assume the Panthers didn’t value the fullback position under freshman offensive coordinator Norv Turner. Out of his 115 snaps, 74% came in games that the Panthers won. His lowest snap count in a victory was 3 against the Eagles. This suggests that Turner is only using formations involving a fullback when he is trying to run out the clock in a win.

The second is to take them in the broader context of the Panthers backfield in 2018. Alex Armah’s 115 snaps was the second highest snap count of any back on the team. That seems obvious with McCaffrey getting 91% of the snaps and C.J. Anderson getting cut halfway through the season, but it is worth noting that Armah had more snaps than Anderson at the time that Anderson was cut.

Armah, whose carries mostly came in short yardage situations, made the most of his opportunities. A 20% touchdown rate is nothing to sneeze at. It would be premature to dismiss him because he hasn’t earned many opportunities in his two years in the league. His rookie year saw him fighting McCaffrey and Jonathan Stewart for carries. Last year, a premiere back like Anderson couldn’t even steal touches.

The Panthers are going to look at building their 2019 roster with two factors in mind that benefit Armah. First, they want to protect McCaffrey. That could mean anything from using their fullback more to (hopefully) using other players to split carries. Armah has proven himself capable of handling that role, at least at the goal line. Second, they are facing uncertainty at the tight end position thanks to Olsen’s injury. An athlete with Armah’s versatility will be valuable given the limited size of an NFL roster.