Robbie Ouzts: Old school football with modern football players

Seahawks-Saints Week 3 film studies on Robbie Ouzts, Josh Jobe, and Byron Murphy!

The word “novelty” is defined as “being new, different, and interesting” in the Oxford Dictionary. But there’s nothing novel about Robbie Ouzts, the Seahawks’ star-turning fullback. He’s a fullback. The position literally predates the invention of football.

As (rugby) advanced, backs positioned at different depths (i.e. distances behind the forwards) were further differentiated into separate positions. These positions were called halfback, three-quarters back, and full back according to English and Scottish nomenclature and quarterback, halfback, and full back in the Irish nomenclature. In rugby the English-Scottish nomenclature was eventually adopted worldwide, with the word, "back", often omitted for brevity from the half-back ("half") and three-quarters back ("three quarter") names, and "fullback" as a single word.

Klint Kubiak isn’t reinventing offense by using a fullback in Seattle, he’s re-engaging with a brand that’s been champing on the bit for a comeback.

Apple, LEGO, Domino’s, Fullback _>_>_> Steve Jobs, Lord/Miller, someone who isn’t Papa John, and Robbie Ouzts.

Every comeback needs an influencer and the Seahawks have one of the most popular rookies in the NFL right now, not because he does the usual exceptionally well…but because Ouzts plays a position that is exceptionally unusual and creating highlights without having to possess the football.

The Seaside Joe newsletter will share every Seahawks-related film study that comes out each week and Ouzts was the star of two of them after Week 2.

This one comes from Saturday Morning Inspection:

Full Fact: NFL depth charts only list 11 current fullbacks on 53-man rosters and the Seahawks have TWO of them. That’s 18%.

Almost 2 out of every 5 fullbacks are in the AFC East for some reason:

To glance at these 10 teams, there is a mixed bag of offensive success. The Shanahan and Kubiak connections are pretty obvious (49ers, Texans Dolphins), while connections to Mike Macdonald (Ravens, Chargers) or the Seahawks (Cowboys) could be more coincidental.

In any case, the Seahawks have taken fullback so seriously that they moved Brady Russell there as an insurance policy and were able to keep him on the roster; Russell currently leads special teams with 43 snaps, eight more snaps than the next-closest special teamer.

Seattle Sports’ Dave Wyman also did 5 minutes on Ouzts this week:

It would be easy, and yeah I think perhaps a little bit fair, to say that we love Robbie Ouzts in part because he plays a position that is rare in modern football and typically thankless. If Ouzts was another running back or a blocking tight end, the position he played at Alabama, he would have just as many touches as he has right now (0) and we wouldn’t talk about him.

Instead, there are two videos about a FULLBACK with nearly 10,000 views in the past 24 hours.

In a way, that falls into my definition of a gimmick but only because of how we react to the Seahawks actually having a fullback, and not due to any deficiencies in execution, skill, or value on the part of Ouzts. He knows the assignment and for that reason Robbie Ouzts could soon be more than a rookie fullback.

By January, he could be a rookie Pro Bowl fullback. Hey, there are only 10 other guys he’s gotta beat!

When I say “Your first fullback” who comes to mind?

Next Read: Assessing SAM DARNOLD’s value per dollar spent and his bargain deal for the Seahawks

Underrated Value: Immediate 5th Round Player

One of the least-discussed advantages to drafting a fullback in the fifth round is that Seattle didn’t have to wait for a return on investment. It’s like picking a special teamer on day three, but he plays on offense and he helps you score touchdowns.

Ouzts was the 37th player drafted out of 38 fifth round picks and the third by the Seahawks after Rylie Mills (142) and Tory Horton (166), then Ouzts at 175.

• Horton has 32 receiving yards, which is almost half of all the combined receiving yards in the fifth round (34 by Jackson Hawes, 9 by Mitchell Evans, both are tight ends).

• Running back DJ Gidden has 41 rushing yards, which are the only rushing yards by fifth round rookies so far.

• There have been 17 tackles made by fifth round picks combined.

• No 5th round offensive linemen have made a start yet and there are 4 combined appearances total (2 each obviously)

Really let that sink in because the most valuable fifth round rookie at the start of the 2025 season is Robbie Ouzts. That may not be true in a year or even in six weeks, but it is true today and that’s a really good head start.

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Josh Jobe film study

The latest video by All-22 is about the entire Seahawks defense, with a lot of Leonard Williams, but there’s plenty about Josh Jobe too. I highly recommend this one and as always, help juice those views/comments/likes numbers for coach. We want him to keep making videos about the Seahawks!

Top Billin’ also made a Josh Jobe video:

Byron Murphy film study

Another popular Seahawks player this week. The Football Scout broke down Murphy:

Know Your Enemy

This breakdown on why the Steelers defense sucked last week might help give some context to what the Seahawks were able to do offensively:

This video about the Saints third down defense could be good news for Sam Darnold and Kubiak:

Are you expecting to see Kubiak do anything differently in Week 3 against the Saints?

Next Read: Assessing SAM DARNOLD’s value per dollar spent and his bargain deal for the Seahawks