Cleveland Browns’ fullback Orson Charles boosts the running game
Who is Orson Charles? The tight end that lines up as a fullback has become a weapon in the run game for the Cleveland Browns even without carrying the ball
The Cleveland Browns‘ Orson Charles is virtually unknown, but he has actually been on the field more often than Duke Johnson. Who the heck is he? He is listed as the fourth-string tight end on the depth chart, but most of his snaps for the Browns have been from the fullback position, lining up behind the line of scrimmage in position to act as the lead blocker for the halfback, which is usually Carlos Hyde.
Charles was drafted in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. He played with the Bengals for two years at the same time that Hue Jackson was on staff, so Jackson knows him well.
The Bengals converted Charles to fullback, where he appearing in 27.5 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. Most of the time, he was part of a two tight end set with Jermaine Gresham. Partly because of Charles serving as a lead blocker, Bengals feature back BenJarvis “Law Firm” Green-Ellis rushed for a career-high 1094 yards.
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The following year, the Bengals had four tight ends on the roster, with the addition of tight ends Alex Smith and Tyler Eifert, and they adopted the two tight end formation as their base. However, the other three players got more playing time. In 2014, Charles was involved in a road rage incident involving a gun and was summarily cut by the Bengals. In the next few years, he bounced around from team to team, catching on with New Orleans and Detroit briefly.
Eventually, in 2017, John Dorsey signed Charles for the Kansas City Chiefs. So both Hue Jackson and John Dorsey know Charles, which no doubt factored into the decision to sign him for the Browns.
To make the Browns, he had to beat out Devon Cajuste, a star of the Hard Knocks reality TV show. In addition to his experience, a key factor was that Charles is an experienced fullback and special teams player, especially because incumbent fullback Danny Vitale went on IR this year.
Not counting Charles’ snaps (and counting Duke Johnson as a running back rather than a wide receiver, so far in 2018 the Browns have averaged 1.20 tight ends on the field per offensive snap, 1.02 running backs, and 2.48 wide receivers. So, even without Charles, the Browns are using two tight end formations a lot. Charles has taken 20.6percent of the Browns’ offensive snaps.
Most of the time Charles is on the field in the fullback position, giving the Browns a two-back backfield. That’s not a bad scheme for a cold weather team on natural turf.
The Browns already have a blocking tight end in Darren Fells, as well as two receiving tight ends in David Njoku and Seth DeValve. The Browns are a little weak in wide receiver depth, but they are loaded at tight end.
In addition to his role as a fullback, Charles has been on the field for 80.6 percent of special teams plays. In all, he has actually been on the field for more plays than Duke Johnson and almost as many as Carlos Hyde (128 for Hyde, 122 for Charles and 96 for Duke).
The Browns’ ground game has anemic so far. The stats look okay, but much of that is due to Tyrod Taylor gaining yards on the ground. But perhaps things are starting to look up. In addition to Baker Mayfield‘s well-chronicled exploits, Hyde ran for a season-high 98 yards, with Charles getting a season-high 21 snaps out of 77 plays.
Hopefully, Mr. Hyde will remember to take Charles to dinner this week. The true tight ends David Njoku (62 snaps), Darren Fells (30 snaps) were also busy, and there were four plays in which they went with two tight ends and a fullback at the same time.
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We can expect that Orson Charles will continue to have a major role with the team at fullback as well as special teams. Hopefully, he is okay with taking the lumps so that Hyde, Johnson and Nick Chubb can take all the credit. But because of the anonymous nature of today’s NFL fullback position, many fans may not even know his name.