SANTA CLARA — The Los Angeles Rams are bringing a very familiar-looking wrinkle to Levi’s Stadium for their Monday night clash with the 49ers — a fullback.
With all of the talk of a copycat league, it appears that Sean McVay has again taken something out of Kyle Shanahan’s playbook. Interestingly, the Rams have not signed an actual fullback or traded for one, but instead, converted wide receiver Ben Skowronek into playing the position.
The 6-foot-3, 224-pound Rams wide receiver lines up primarily in the slot. But in the club’s past two contests, Skowronek has lined up in the backfield 29 times. Through three weeks, the second-year receiver has caught 21 of his 33 targets for 107 yards and led the team in receiving yards in Week 3.
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SIGN UP HERE Lining up the wide receiver as a fullback is McVay’s attempt to confuse opposing defenses disguising whether they are in 11-personnel -- one running back, three wide receivers and one tight end, or 21 personnel -- two running backs, two wide receivers and one tight end.
The 49ers' own fullback, Kyle Juszczyk, spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area on Saturday about what he has seen from the new element in the Rams' offense.
“I thought it was impressive that a wide receiver lined up in the backfield like that,” Juszczyk said on Saturday. “And then the defensive guys were talking to me about it, ‘Hey they are running all the plays they use with you in them.’ So I checked them out today.”
Juszczyk shared that a few weeks ago he started getting alerts on his phone notifying him that his name was being tagged in stories. When he looked them up, the veteran fullback wondered why his name was connected to the Rams, until this week.
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While Deebo Samuel makes converting to a running back look effortless, the “wide-back” has extensive experience playing the position. Juszczyk himself was a wide receiver who made the transition to fullback at the end of his college days at Harvard and remembers the challenge of the evolution.
“It took a little bit,” Juszczyk said about his own adjustment. “The first time I truly played fullback full-time was at the Senior Bowl. Going into training camp my rookie year, it really wasn’t that natural for me, and I don’t think it was until my second year, that it started to become more natural for me.”
Juszczyk went into more detail about why attempting to run through the line of scrimmage can be hard at times, noting how quickly the gaps change and/or close as soon as the ball is snapped.
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“Everyone takes for granted how difficult it is to be able to enter through the line of scrimmage when you’re not used to doing it,” Juszczyk said. “That’s where when you see a position change with someone playing fullback, that’s where they will struggle the most.”
While Juszczyk does see similarities in how Skowronek is used by McVay, the Harvard product doesn’t believe it is the blueprint of what Shanahan does. Juszczyk explained that there are only so many iterations of what can be done on the field and that every playbook across the league has similar elements.
On Monday night, the 49ers will see the proof, or lack thereof, in person.
