Bills fullback Barnes among vanishing breed
PITTSFORD — The fullback, once a staple of virtually every offense in the NFL, is about as rare these days as leather helmets. Darian Barnes, who has spent his entire seven-year career at the position, realizes he’s part of a vanishing breed.
“It’s hard for any fullback, whether you’re established or not,” said the Buffalo Bills’ new fullback. “It’s kind of slowly being phased out. For fullbacks it’s a larger issue but being a fullback you don’t think about it because you’re just trying to play.”
But Barnes’ talents will be utilized with the Bills, who have shifted their offensive philosophy now that Turk Schonert is the coordinator. The Bills are going back to a traditional two-back set for the first time since 2006, when they had Daimon Shelton at fullback.
“I grew up in Bill Walsh’s offense [at Stanford] and they always threw the ball to the fullback,” said Schonert, who was Walsh’s quarterback with the Cardinal.
“When I was here the first time we had Sam Gash and he was a good thumper, but we’d run a play fake and he had good hands and we threw it in the flat to him a bunch of times. I think we can do that with Darian.”
While running back Marshawn Lynch rushed for 1,115 yards, the Bills scored only eight rushing touchdowns, which tied for 25th in the league. They signed Barnes, who played last season with the New York Jets, to help improve the team at the point of attack.
“He is very physical and has good size,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said. “He understands the position and understands what we want from him. He has experience playing it so he becomes a very valuable guy in our offense.”
But the Bills are also going against the trend in college and the NFL with their use of a fullback. Fans knew that Jim Braxton opened holes for O. J. Simpson, as did Rocky Bleier for Franco Harris and Matt Suhey for Walter Payton. All were key contributors to the yardage gained by the better- known player sharing the backfield.
Currently only 41 fullbacks are listed on the rosters of the 32 teams on NFL.com and only four were selected in last April’s NFL draft.
“Fifteen or 20 years ago, everyone could tell you the fullback on their team,” Barnes said. “Now it’s like, ‘Who? What?’ I know who the fullbacks are in the league because I watch the position, but people are like, ‘Who’s that?’ ”
Some say fullbacks began to vanish when the NFL started liberalizing its blocking rules for offensive linemen, first allowing them to extend their arms and then to use their hands. Today’s NFL utilizes more one-back schemes with two tight ends. Barnes thinks coaches want as many skilled athletes on the field as possible.
“I’m not saying fullbacks aren’t athletes, but fullbacks offensively are football players,” he said. “A fullback has to block and he has to make tackles on special teams. You can put a tight end back there and he might not be the best lead blocker but on defense you have to play the post, the corner. You have [a] myriad of routes that with a fullback you don’t have to play. No one expects me to go out and run a post corner route.”
Barnes is convinced some teams don’t truly understand the value of having a blocker in the backfield.
“They didn’t appreciate it in the place I played last year and I don’t feel bad saying that,” Barnes said. “They have a great fullback in Tony Richardson who is probably one of the top two fullbacks in the league easily so hopefully they changed their mind. Then again, maybe it was me.”
Barnes stumbled into playing the position. While in college, he transferred from Rutgers to Hampton to get more playing time at tailback.
“My dad was dropping me off at Hampton and the coach was like, ‘You’re going to come here and play tailback,’ but when my dad drove away they were like, ‘You’re going to play fullback,’ ” Barnes said, laughing. “I was in Virginia and I’m from Jersey and my dad was already on I-95 back home. But it was the best thing for me because I got a chance to play in the NFL.”
It also meant fighting for his NFL life each year but such is life at a position that is slowly becoming extinct.
“It’s where the game is going,” Barnes said. “It would be a problem if I didn’t know that, if I didn’t accept that. Every year in this job you play the best that you can and hope someone will need a fullback.”
