And then there was one.
John Kuhn is apparently the last of a dying breed, the lone fullback on the Green Bay Packers' 53-man roster.
"It's unusual," Kuhn said. "We've had three for the last two years and two the year before that. It's a little unusual, but we understand that Coach Mike ( McCarthy) and his guys, they always pick who they feel are the 53 best guys and that gives us the best chance to win ball games."
In this case, they kept five tight ends, which meant the other fullbacks had to go. That leaves Kuhn to handle all the fullback duties, raising the question: How is he going to do all that plus perform the many other duties that have earned him the nickname "Swiss Army Knife?"
One of the answers is the Packers probably are going to be running a lot more one-back formations than they have before. Instead of having a lead blocker, presumably they'll go with two tight ends when they intend to run the ball. They also can use their tight ends in fullback-like positions.
The one thing they hope not to do is wear out Kuhn, and that means adjusting their personnel to account for having just one fullback.
"I think it's important that we have some versatility," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "You have to be able to run the ball out of passing formations and pass the ball out of running formations. I think those are still important things that we want to do and I think we'll continue to do. We've always had that as part of our thinking. We can't live in two-back all day."
The tight ends give the Packers blocking options who are more versatile than the average fullback, but when it comes to having a big hammer like 260-pound Quinn Johnson, they just don't have it. Unless they're willing to call on nose tackle B.J. Raji again, they're going to have to be creative in short-yardage situations.
"Why don't you go in there and ask him, I'm sure he'd love to do it," Philbin joked. "Sounds good to me."
Raji said he'd be happy to help out, but his main concern is playing defense and he hasn't lobbied to do it. He gave no indication the coaches are even considering using him, so they obviously have another plan.
As for Kuhn, he thinks he'll be able to handle the workload.
"In years past, guys who have done a lot, maybe done even more than one role, Coach always does a great job making sure they stay healthy, stay fresh and doesn't wear them down too much," Kuhn said. "I feel confident that they'll do what they feel is right.
"They're going to adjust game plans according to that. You can kind of let your imagination go with that."
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