As most great teams tend to be, the Philadelphia Eagles are trendsetters in the NFL. Being willing to take risks and innovate requires buy-in from not only your head coach, but from the GM and owner as well. And that organizational strength has allowed the Eagles to thrive.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has also tipped off fans as to what the team's next innovation will be: they want to bring back the fullback position.
That's a massive vote of confidence for former undrafted free agent and multi-position player Ben VanSumeren.
Eagles' Ben VanSumeren Set For Increased Role at Fullback in 2025
VanSumeren, a two-way fullback/linebacker and special teams contributor, is the only fullback on the Eagles roster, and it's hard not to immediately link him to Lurie's comments about the position. That's doubly true when you add in that the Eagles changed his position on the official roster from linebacker to fullback following his signing a contract extension in March.
VanSumeren has played in 20 games since being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023. As a rookie, he played 50 defensive snaps and 180 special teams snaps, then in 2024 he played 22 offensive snaps and 213 special teams snaps.
If the team is as serious about using a fullback as they promise, then VanSumeren will be in line for a 17-game season with a significantly increased snap share in 2025.
PFF only credits four fullbacks as having played even 300 snaps last season: Kyle Juszczyk (San Francisco 49ers), Patrick Ricard (Baltimore Ravens), Alec Ingold (Miami Dolphins) and Hunter Luepke (Dallas Cowboys).
The Eagles, in addition to giving VanSumeren a bit of run, also used Khari Blasingame as a fullback at times, though he played just 18 snaps. That makes it clear that an emphasis of the position would not only be a big change for Philly, but a move that's still highly uncommon across the league.
It's also an exciting one — there's not much Eagles fans would like to see more than an even bigger commitment being made to getting the ball into Saquon Barkley's hands, and putting an extra blocker in front of him in the backfield signals just that.