Colts: Roosevelt Nix cut confirms Indy can survive without fullback

The Colts released fullback Roosevelt Nix on Monday.

For any old school football fans in Indianapolis who were hoping that the Colts would turn back the clock and run their offense with a fullback in the backfield, we regret to inform you that won’t happen.

On Monday, the team announced the release of fullback Roosevelt Nix, who earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2017 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The five-year veteran signed a one-year, $910K contract with Indy back in April to supposedly bolster a rushing attack that ranked seventh in the NFL with 133.1 yards per game last season.

As excited as we were to see the Colts add a proven blocker behind their behemoth offensive line, this move confirms that they can survive without a fullback, a position that is truly a dying breed in today’s game.

At the time of the signing, head coach Frank Reich acknowledged that Indianapolis was sorely missing a lead blocker element to its running game.

“We are primarily a one-back offense,” Reich told reporters. “We don’t change from that, but when you go back to ’18 and we had (Ryan) Hewitt and we could do a little bit of that. We just think Rosie fits that mold. Obviously he is a great special teams player, but can also help in the two-back offense.”

That quote certainly looks a little odd now that Roosevelt has just been axed, but Reich’s further evaluation of the roster at training camp clearly made him feel that the Kent State product was expendable, and understandably so given the performance of the Colts’ OL in 2019.

It truly would have been an aberration for Indianapolis to carry a fullback on the roster and give him a prominent role. Not since the 2013 season has the team done that, when Stanley Havili appeared in 13 games (eight starts) and played 31% of the offensive snaps.

Fans really shouldn’t read too much into Roosevelt getting cut as rosters must be trimmed to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Colts managed just fine without a fullback last year, and the move just confirms they will carry four running backs — Marlon Mack, Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins — on the roster for at least the start of the 2020 season.