The versatile All-Pro bridges the gap between fullback and tight end, teaching league stars the art of backfield utility while navigating the complex realities of positional labels.
Some of the best athletes in the NFL are often hidden behind positional labels.
Brock Bowers is one of — if not the best — "tight ends" in the league. If he wanted to line up out at X every snap, he could easily do so and would likely produce just as much as a top "wide receiver."
But Bowers is just a modern example of the point I'm getting at. There have been plenty of pure "football players" throughout the NFL's history — ranging anywhere from JJ Watt to Deion Sanders.
13 years into his professional career, San Francisco 49ers weapon Kyle Juszcyk falls into that same category.
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan has deployed Juszcyk in a number of ways since he arrived in the Bay Area back in 2017, primarily as a pass-catcher and occasional rusher.
Ahead of year 10 in San Francisco, Juszcyk was invited to the annual three-day Tight End University summit by All-Pro teammate George Kittle.
Juszcyk's invitation led to a question posed by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, asking the 35-year-old if he was an "honorary tight end."
"Am I a tight end? Am I not a tight end? I don’t know. That’s a great question,” Juszczyk said. "Unfortunately, I think I’m a tight end and not a tight end at all the wrong times. I’m a fullback when it comes to contract negotiations, which hurts, but then I’m a tight end on game day.”
But his role as an on-field tight end wasn't the only reason behind Juszcyk's attendance.
Travis Kelce specifically asked Juszcyk to offer tips on how to play the fullback position as offensive coordinators around the league increase their usage of tight ends in the backfield.
“Tight End U, it was really cool to get to go there and to get to see the other tight ends around the league," Juszcyk said. "Travis [Kelce] asked me to teach a class on playing fullback because so many of these tight ends now are asked to play in the backfield. So, I had a really good time doing that.”
Shanahan's offense has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to versatility and pre-snap movement, and Juszczyk has served as one of its foundational pieces throughout that evolution.
... now, as more offenses ask tight ends to play in the backfield and running backs to split out wide, the rest of the league is following suit.
