Could KC Chiefs bring back the fullback position? Looks like they’ve got a guy...
Carson Steele’s first rushing attempt on Saturday started in the usual way: He took a handoff from the Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback, Chris Oladokun.
What happened over the next few seconds raised eyebrows.
Steele powered through the first tackler at the line of scrimmage, eluded two more attempting to reach him with dives, shed yet another a tackler, then pushed teammate Justyn Ross into a defender to pick up a couple more yards before, finally, being brought down.
The first carry of Steele’s NFL career — albeit in a preseason game in Jacksonville, against the Jaguars — produced 20 beast-mode yards, plenty of oohs and ahhs ... and a rush.
“The adrenaline was pumping,” Steele told The Star. “I was bouncing back and forth.”
Not to mention keeping his footing along the way.
The debut couldn’t have gone much better for Steele, an undrafted rookie from UCLA who is trying to make the Chiefs’ roster at a position that didn’t exist for the team last season: fullback.
In addition to his dazzling first carry, Steele bodied into the end zone from the 1 for the Chiefs’ lone touchdown in a 26-13 loss to the Jaguars.
“What a blessing to be able to come out here for one of the great organizations and score my first touchdown,” Steele said. “We didn’t get the win, but I definitely got all my jitters out. It was an awesome experience.”
Steele finished the preseason game as the Chiefs’ rushing leader with 29 yards on four attempts. All of the Chiefs’ running backs played and had at least one rushing attempt. Steele is the roster’s only fullback, and he’s playing the position for the first time.
He’s been a running back throughout his career. At Ball State, Steele led the MAC in rushing with 1,556 yards in 2022. Steele then transferred to UCLA and produced 847 yards as part of the Bruins’ backfield rotation. He wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine.
But at 6-feet, 228 pounds, Steele caught the attention and the imagination of coach Andy Reid and Chiefs. Until last season, the team had employed a fullback, Anthony Sherman and then Michael Burton, since Reid arrived in 2013.
Last season, the Chiefs kept seven wide receivers on the active roster for the first time — and no fullback.
“I did some short-yardage stuff (in college), but I didn’t really play the position,” Steele said.
Earlier last week, Reid had called Steele a “surprise” at camp.
“We’re kind of maneuvering around and seeing if he can do the fullback stuff, and it looks like, so far, he can,” Reid said.
And this was before Saturday evening’s preseason opener, played before some of Steele’s family.
Now it’s about keeping the momentum going and landing a roster spot at a position that the Chiefs would have to restore.
“Honestly,” Steele said, “It’s about wherever I can fit in.”