Trevon Wesco looked like a potential roster cut heading into the spring.
A raw offensive talent near the bottom of the tight end depth chart, it was hard to see him out-shining the competition at his position. Fortunately for Wesco, Mike LaFleur’s scheme needs a fullback, and the Jets don’t have one.
Wesco and the Jets’ decision to convert him is a mutually beneficial move that likely secures the third-year pro’s roster spot if he proves up to the challenge. The switch fills a hole in the Jets offense and gives Wesco the chance to make a positive first impression on a new regime.
Luckily for Wesco, he isn’t making the switch completely blind. He’s played fullback in college and in the NFL and already worked with LaFleur at the 2019 Senior Bowl.
“I got to know Wesco before I knew any of these guys from our Senior Bowl, where we played him a bit at fullback,” the Jets offensive coordinator said last week. “He’s a very confident dude, he loves being out there and yes, he is our fullback right now.”
Wesco spoke positively of his Senior Bowl experiences with LaFleur and the 49ers coaching staff prior to the 2019 draft. They had him run a lot of blocking plays in the T-formation, where a fullback lines up between two running backs behind the quarterback.
“It wasn’t really nothing new for me because I played a lot of fullback at West Virginia, so it’s no different,” Wesco said at the time, per The Associated Press. “I’m a versatile player. I’m a two-in-one player — I can play tight end and fullback. Whatever they ask me to do, I’ve done.”
When the Jets asked him to block more and play some fullback in 2020, Wesco once again jumped at the opportunity to help the team.
“Whatever role they ask me to play, whatever they ask me to do, I just try to do it to the best of my ability,” Wesco said before the 2020 season. “I’m just trying to help the team any way I can.”
It would have been hard for Wesco to make an impact on this Jets team had he not made the move. He has just three receptions and one rushing attempt on 360 snaps in his two NFL seasons. He is the Jets’ fourth tight end at best. Wesco played a little on special teams, but the Jets beefed up that unit this offseason.
While the tight end is extremely important in LaFleur’s offense, the fullback might be even more important for the wide-zone scheme. Kyle Shanahan’s offenses in San Francisco and Atlanta used a fullback at some of the highest paces in the league and LaFleur wants to emulate that strategy in New York.
“You like to have a fullback. You like to be in those traditional 21-personnel formations, it just keeps the defense balanced a little bit more,” LaFleur said. “You can go lead their way so you can control the angles, particularly in the run game and obviously all the play passes that come off of it.”
That’s a way in which Wesco can help the team that he couldn’t as a tight end. The Jets are likely to lean on Chris Herndon, Tyler Kroft and Ryan Griffin at that position – as both blockers and receivers. Wesco would have seen some snaps, but not enough to garner attention from the staff. As a fullback, the 6-foot-3, 267-pound Wesco gives the Jets a fantastic blocker in the backfield for their running attack. He can also play a role in the passing game. Kyle Juszczyk, the 49ers’ five-time Pro Bowl fullback, averaged 39 targets, 30 receptions and 316 receiving yards over the past four seasons under Shanahan.
LaFleur recognizes that Wesco isn’t the same as Juszczyk, but he noted that Wesco’s massive body in the backfield can do a lot of good things for the Jets.
“Is he going to do all the same stuff that [Juszczyk] could do? Probably not. Is he going to do some stuff that [Juszczyk] couldn’t do? Absolutely,” LaFleur said. “He’s a bigger body, he’s longer. He’s going to be able to play a little bit more inline, so we can use him in multiple ways, whether it be 21 or your typical 12 personnel formations. So, he’s embracing it.”
