The Chicago Bears spent an early 4th-round pick on Temple’s Evan Rodriguez, a tight end who they intended to convert to fullback. It would have been an early selection for any fullback, but especially for one with limited experience at the position.
But so far it’s worked out brilliantly. Pro Football Focus, which grades players at each position, currently has Rodriguez as the highest-rated fullback through two games.
It’s probably unrealistic to expect Rodriguez to keep up that pace, but it’s definitely encouraging to see him excel in this role early in the season.
Rodriguez certainly had plenty of experience as a lead blocker in college, at times from the FB position, so all these “experts” that are somehow “shocked” to see him excel did very little research on him. Bottom line is, the Bears have much bigger plans for him as he possesses the best hands, by FAR, of the TE group.
This site has become a shrine to Pro Football Focus – how about some opinion of players in the college ranks, which is what I thought this site did?!