Kevin O'Connell calls C.J. Ham a 'real weapon' Minnesota Vikings could prioritize fullback in 2024

Fullback has been a largely forgotten position in the National Football League with the advent of the spread offense and 7-on-7 drills and camps. Even with the shift in the game of football, some teams still prioritize the fullback.

The San Francisco 49ers have a versatile weapon in Kyle Juszczyk and use him in all kinds of formations. They line him up out wide, in the slot, at tight end and every variation of the fullback. His ability to do a little bit of everything makes Kyle Shanahan's job so much easier.

The Minnesota Vikings have a really intriguing player at the fullback position in C.J. Ham. An undrafted free agent as a running back out of Augustana, Ham shifted to fullback and was named a captain by his teammates.

Going into the 2024 season, there is a renewed effort to run the football. The Vikings signed running back Aaron Jones this offseason and have continued to discuss making an effort to run the football this season.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell was asked about Ham and his versatility on Friday and was asked about Ham's versatility. He raved about Ham and how they could use him this year.

"I think his versatility, obviously to be the traditional fullback type is a real weapon for us. Part of running the football better and more efficiently and consistently is figuring out the best ways to activate that 21 personnel when C.J. can be a real tool to allow us to run some different types of runs than you run in 11 personnel or 12 for that matter. It’s a matter of, okay, what are those runs, and then what of our other 12 personnel runs, especially early in the year that C.J. can really help us continue to have implementation of, when we might not have T.J. [Hockenson] at 100 % right off the bat or whatever his timetable is going to look like. C.J.'s a weapon in many, many ways. His special team's value as a four -phase guy is massive to our team. But then also his value in the past game and being able to limit, forcing a defense to keep four DBs on the field, and then what does that mean for the Justin Jefferson’s coverage plan or how they want to play Jordan [Addison] or Aaron Jones or any of those things? And then how can we build a system and stay true to that, that doesn’t veer too far off path where it becomes uncomfortable for our guy’s week in and week out. More, so they know where we're going to go, what pages of the playbook we're going to apply and then make them feel really good about that plan that week. But C.J.'s a big part of our offense. It doesn't always show up in snap counts and things like that based upon the game plan and things like that, but he's always a big deal to me as the play caller and even more so as the head coach from a leadership standpoint."

O'Connell mentioning Ham alongside Hockenson being out is significant, especially with 21 and 22 personnel sets. The Vikings have gotten creative with Ham's usage in the past, sending him on wheel routes down the field and in the screen game.

The idea of running a lot of heavy personnel sets is to not just help in the running game, but it creates advantageous matchups in the passing game with tight ends on linebackers. The focus on the running game could help unlock Ham on a different level, despite not having a lot snaps over the last two seasons.