The Last Fullback in the Draft
The position scout-guide entry for ‘FB’ in the 2026 NFL Draft contained zero invited combine prospects. Zero. The Senior Bowl had no roster spot for the position. The East-West Shrine Bowl converted its two listed fullbacks to H-back/tight-end before kickoff. By the time the draft started in Pittsburgh, no scouting service had a fullback graded above an UDFA priority signing. The 2026 cycle is the third consecutive draft in which no true fullback has been selected. The decline is now a well-established trend; the question now is whether the position survives the decade as a roster designation at all.
When the Position Mattered
As recently as 2002, NFL teams averaged 1.4 fullbacks per 53-man roster. Lorenzo Neal — a six-time Pro Bowler — was the gold standard for the position, blocking for nine different 1,000-yard rushers across his 16-year career. Mike Alstott was a Pro Bowl fullback who could carry the rock. Tony Richardson, Larry Centers, Mike Tolbert, William Henderson — the position was its own ecosystem, its own coaching pipeline, its own career arc. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2002 Super Bowl roster carried two fullbacks. So did the 2003 Patriots. So did the 2007 Giants.
The Three Things That Killed It
First: the rise of 11-personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers) as the modern NFL's default offensive set. Eleven personnel reduces the FB role from a starter to a part-time package player. Second: the rise of the H-back / move-tight-end hybrid, who can block in the backfield, line up in the slot, and split out wide — basically a more flexible fullback. The H-back replaced the traditional FB on most rosters by 2018. Third: the salary-cap math. A backup FB makes the veteran minimum (about $1.1M); an H-back commands $2-4M. The H-back is more expensive but justifies the cost via positional flexibility. The fullback became a luxury few rosters could afford.
The Three Teams That Still Carry One
The 49ers.html" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:#c8102e;">San Francisco 49ers (Kyle Juszczyk), the Los Angeles Chargers (Scott Matlock), and the Baltimore Ravens (Patrick Ricard) are the only NFL teams that still carry a true I-formation fullback on their active roster. Juszczyk is a six-time Pro Bowler and Kyle Shanahan's offensive lifer; Ricard is a defensive-line convert who plays both offense and defense; Matlock is the only one of the three drafted in the modern post-2018 era. All three are over 30 years old. None of the three has a clear successor on their team's roster, in the upcoming draft class, or in the transfer portal. The position effectively retires when those three players retire.
What This Means for College Football
The college game still uses the fullback position more than the NFL — Air Force, Navy, Army, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Stanford all run package fullbacks regularly. But the path from college FB to NFL FB has effectively closed. Players who excel at the college FB position are now told by their agents to convert to TE, H-back, or special-teams ace before the Combine. The 2027 draft cycle has zero fullbacks on any major board. By 2030, the position will exist only in the historical record. The death of the fullback is one of the quietest position-extinction stories in modern football, and the 2026 draft is the cleanest data point for that obituary.