Chiefs News: Carson Steele could end up being an Andy Reid fullback

Three months after Andy Reid became the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, the team used a sixth-round draft pick (204th overall) to acquire Kansas State fullback Braden Wilson in the 2013 NFL Draft.

Four days later, the team traded fourth-year cornerback Javier Arenas — a former second-round pick who had started nine games for Kansas City in 2012 — to the Arizona Cardinals for fullback Anthony Sherman, who had collected 114 yards from scrimmage on 14 touches during the previous two seasons.

It’s fair to say that some observers were puzzled. Kansas City had finished with the league’s worst record in 2012. Yet Reid (and new general manager John Dorsey) were expending valuable assets to find… a fullback?

Wilson didn’t even make it to the final roster cutdown. Instead, Sherman made the team. By the end of the season — in which he gained a modest 158 yards from scrimmage on 20 touches, but was named a second-team All-Pro — we understood that for Reid, a fullback was an important cog in his offensive machine. And to special teams coordinator Dave Toub, Sherman was an essential part of every unit.

Sherman stayed with Kansas City for eight seasons, becoming a fan favorite as a blue-collar player known as “The Sausage.” After his retirement in 2020, the Chiefs acquired veteran fullback Michael Burton, who filled the position admirably in both 2021 and 2022.

But in 2023, Kansas City went without one. It was only the third season of Reid’s 25-year head coaching career in which he didn’t have at least one fullback on his roster.

That could change in 2024. Former UCLA running back Carson Steele joined the team as an undrafted free agent after the NFL Draft. At 6 feet and 228 pounds, he’s the biggest running back among the seven on the roster. A native of Center Grove, Indiana — a tiny unincorporated community south of Indianapolis — Steele got work at the position during the team’s offseason program. He’s even wearing Sherman’s old number: 42.

“Honestly, I feel real good about everything,” Steele told Johnson County, Indiana’s Daily Journal. “They’ve got me rolling in and out at running back and at fullback. As long as I’m out there, I’m cool with whatever. I feel like I can fit in somewhere.”

The 21-year-old started his college career at Ball State — about an hour and a half up I-69 — before spending his final year at UCLA. Practicing with NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce felt like a dream.

“Man, it was just awesome to get that opportunity,” he said of the workouts in Kansas City, “and being able to learn from them. Everything was going so fast. You just had to focus on learning the new plays.”

And once in a while, on an unexpected throw. During one session, Mahomes flipped a behind-the-back pass to the young rookie.

“I almost wasn’t even paying attention,” recalled Steele, “and then he swung it behind his back. I was like, ‘Please don’t drop it. Please don’t drop it.’

“[Mahomes] yelled, ‘One-handed!’ He yelled it real loud.”

As directed, Steele brought it in with his left hand.

Now back home for the summer break, the rookie is working with local players and longtime Center Grove football coach Eric Moore.

“[We’re] just giving him a place to do all his drills [and] to lift weights,” explained Moore. “Just supporting him. You have to stay focused. Carson is around the young kids, and he also has a huge playbook to learn.

“It’s just cool that he’s sharing it with everyone. He’s the community’s kid.

“I’m just awful proud of him. No one deserves an opportunity to be in the NFL more than Carson Steele.”