No player had a better performance for the Kansas City Chiefs in preseason Week 1 than undrafted free agent halfback Carson Steele .
In just five offensive snaps, Steele posted four carries for 29 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry and had a long run of 20 yards where he broke two tackles. On the lone play that he didn't get the ball on offense, he was used as a run-blocker.
Steele has been following the age-old NFL rule when it comes to making a roster. That's to say you can make yourself valuable to teams by wearing a lot of different hats.
"Honestly, that was kind of my, my main goal coming into camp," Steele told reporters of learning to play fullback on Monday. "It's a little bit of talks here and there. And my main goal is trying to be like a 'Swiss Army Knife,' try to do it all type of deal. And, you know, wherever they need to put me in, is where I can get in. And so, like they were saying, implementing the fullback in there as well being able to block, especially catch out of the backfield too, not only just being able to run."
Steele has purely been a halfback in college and high school, though he does have some experience run-blocking during his time at UCLA, in their multi-RB looks. He'd never had anyone ask him to play fullback before, even if his size and style closely resembled one.
"No, because it really isn't, you know, a super big thing, but being that bigger back third-and-1, third-and-2," Steele explained. "It's more of a — I was more of a style of a fullback, but I wasn't a true fullback — if that makes sense. And so, you know, it kind of stuck to me, and it's really helped me get through this camp as well."
Chiefs HC Andy Reid didn't carry a fullback during the 2023 NFL season , but they managed to get by without a full-time player at that position. He claims they didn't exactly miss having one, but the fact that Steele can fill-in there certainly doesn't hurt his case. There is, however, one major obstacle standing in his way of a spot on the 53-man roster. He needs to prove himself valuable to Chiefs special team coordinator Dave Toub, according to Reid.
"Yeah. Well, you saw what he was as a running back, and then he's learning the fullback spot as needed," Reid said. "We used Noah (Gray) there last year, who can still do that. But you know if he's going to make the team, he's got to be a good special teams player, and he's got to be able to carry the football and stay aggressive like he's doing right now. But he had a productive day."
If special teams truly are the key to Steele making the 53-man roster, he's going to need to step up his performance in preseason Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. 59 Chiefs players had special teams snaps on Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Steele's 53.6 grade on special teams was the eighth-worst mark according to Pro Football Focus . Even with grading being subjective, that's not the type of mark that's going to cut it for Toub and his unit.
Related: Chiefs HC Andy Reid provides key injury updates following Monday's training camp practice
Local Kansas City, MO
Most Popular
Comments / 0