Bill Walsh’s alphabet soup of offensive terms and labels permeates most NFL playbooks these days. Mike and Kyle Shanahan made their innovations and now, a former Broncos ball boy is continuing his own evolution.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel on Wednesday explained to reporters a new position on Miami’s Week 1 depth chart: F.
“Most of the time our fullback — by definition of what a fullback is known to be — isn’t playing fullback,” McDaniel said, via Adam Stites of Dolphins Wire. “He’s playing receiver, or tight end, or a multitude of things. For us, F can be a third-down target, can be a core-blocking tool, an asset, a guy you’re trying to get the ball to in space. Maybe if you have some players that occupy a lot of space that defenses have to regard, Fs can take advantage of underneath space in defense.”
In layman’s terms, Coach?
“What is an F? He’s not the Y, Z, or X, and he’s a good football player that probably has some skills that the football team can benefit from.”
Those good football players are Jonnu Smith – a unique threat in the Dolphins’ attack — Tanner Conner and Pro Bowler Alec Ingold. And when Miami hosts Jacksonville on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), the Dolphins might benefit from the intangibles those players provide, even if they’re not South Florida household names like Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane.