RICHMOND — Joe Kerridge ran alone after practice last week. Three times, he sprinted the width of the practice field with his pads on, moving through the dank Richmond air which had moved from oppressive and heat-filled to clammy by midweek. Done, he picked up his helmet and walked by himself back to the training facility.
An NFL fullback has never led a glamorous life. His job has always been in line with the dock worker’s toil; an endless grind where all collars were blue. In the 2016 version of the league, things are becoming worse for the fullback position. It is moving from incognito to extinct.
Kerridge, 6 feet, 242 pounds, is the lone fullback listed on the Redskins’ roster. Because he is an undrafted rookie from Michigan, he shares the number 38 with a defensive counterpart and spend most days practicing in the shadows.
The Redskins did not sign a fullback after letting Darrel Young move into free agency. They did not draft one, either. They figured they could make due with tight end Niles Paul occasionally sliding into the spot, which is of infrequent use in the Redskins’ offensive scheme.
“I think there’s still a place for it,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “It depends on your flavor as a coordinator and who you have on your roster. We have a fullback in here that’s very intriguing, Joe Kerridge. He’s doing an excellent job. From Michigan, he’s really turning some heads. … Logan [Paulsen] can probably do it. So there’s a place for it. We definitely have some runs in our game plan and our playbook that have fullback leading, so we get good play-actions off of them, we get good boots off of them, so it’s an important part of our game.”
Which means Kerridge’s chance to make the team is a distant one, though he’s been working in odd spots for most of his football life. In high school, he punted and kicked, plus played outside linebacker and even running back at times. At Michigan his career highlights speak to his position. His career-high in receptions in a game is two. On the list of his accomplishments in 2015 in Ann Arbor is the line, “Carried the ball one time for five yards.”
None of this is lost on Kerridge, who enrolled in the School of Kinesiology and majored in sport management at Michigan. He played four seasons at fullback for the Wolverines. He was on the All-Big Ten Academic team for three of them after redshirting. He was in graduate school the fourth. Kerridge knows the realities chasing him around camp.
“I have plenty of opportunities in the business world coming out of football,” Kerridge said. “I’m just trying to live it up right now. Take it day by day and enjoy this process.”
Kerridge’s last season at Michigan brought a new coach with an NFL background and quirky personality. Jim Harbaugh was hired by the Wolverines to fix a blueblood gone wrong. Kerridge said Harbaugh structuring each day like an NFL day has already benefited him in training camp.
Harbaugh also insisted the Michigan players carry themselves a certain way, viewing football as their job.
“We took that as a full responsibility,” Kerridge said.
If there is a way onto a roster for Kerridge, it may be through special teams, where most of his work in the first preseason game came. He played just three offensive snaps.
And the roster he joins may be the practice squad one. There are not enough offensive snaps for a fullback to justify a roster spot, so he has to do something else. He’s been doing that since his football journey began in high school. He will keep trying it now as his position moves toward eradication.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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