The Tennessee Titans take on the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday but won’t see the return of a key member of their rushing attack, fullback Tory Carter.
Obviously, Derrick Henry’s return is the big news, as he’s the final piece this team needed to get back in order to make a Super Bowl run, but on Tuesday the Titans didn’t activate Carter off IR, which at least somewhat hurts the team’s rushing attack.
Carter was an undrafted free agent fullback out of LSU. As expected from a fullback in modern college football, Carter wasn’t impressive from a production standpoint during his four years in Louisiana.
But ask any one who watched him play and they will tell you the kind of player he was — physical, tough, ferocious. Carter played his role as a fullback, but also was a valuable member on special teams.
All of that has translated to the Titans.
Carter has only played in eight games so far for the Titans. It took him some time to work his way past Khari Blasingame as the top fullback, and he suffered an ankle injury in Week 14 that led to his current IR stint.
It may be easy to underestimate the impact a UDFA fullback can have, but if you look closely, you can see his value. The Titans’ coaching staff can definitely see it as well.
Not only is Carter the best fullback on the team, but his speed and physicality allows the Titans to do more things in the run game than they typically would.
Carter’s impact is perfectly illustrated by a tweet from No Flags Films; the tweet shows the statistical representation of that impact.
Tory Carter's potential return might seem insignificant, but he changes Tennessee's run game quite a bit.
**Carter vs. Blasingame as starting FB**
% of Outside Zone/Toss plays with a lead blocker:
Carter: 31%
Blasingame: 22%YPA on those plays:
Carter: 5.4
Blasingame: 2.7— No Flags Film (@NoFlagsFilm) January 17, 2022
The Titans run outside zone and toss pitches at an eight percent higher rate when Carter is on the field (31 percent vs. 22 percent), and the Titans’ yards per attempt on those plays doubles with Carter out there (5.4 vs. 2.7).
I get asked a lot about Blasingame when I bring up Carter’s impact, and the answer I always go with is simple: Carter is just better.
He is more explosive and more physical. You can see it on the tape and the coaches told us they see it too by going with Carter over Blasingame throughout the year when Carter was healthy.
So, as we do each week, let’s step into the film room and see exactly what the Titans will be missing with Carter sidelined for the divisional round.
