The Vikings used a draft pick on a position much of the NFL has abandoned. Here’s what it tells us.

Max Bredeson was the league’s highest-drafted fullback since 2015 and could play more than any other Vikings rookie as Kevin O’Connell makes the position integral to a revamped running game.

The fraternity of NFL fullbacks remains strong in Minnesota.

Ravens fullback Lucas Scott noticed that in late April, when the Vikings selected Max Bredeson in the fifth round — making him the only fullback taken among 257 NFL draft picks.

Bredeson, who is one of 11 rookies to make the Vikings’ initial 53-man roster, is expected to have an immediate role in coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense. Bredeson joins a long line of Vikings fullbacks, after Jim Kleinsasser, Jerome Felton and C.J. Hamthrived before him.

Bredeson already has a fan in Scott, the second-year Ravens fullback.

“I try to track all the guys,” Scott told the Minnesota Star Tribune after an Aug. 20 Vikings-Ravens joint practice. “We have a pretty niche position. I like seeing the competition, but you’re rooting for them, too. The better other fullbacks can do, more teams will try to use them. In 2000, everyone had a fullback and it kind of died off. I think we’re growing it back a little bit.”

The Vikings are doing their part to keep fullbacks in the game.

They splurged — at least relatively — to replace Ham, the former Pro Bowler who retired this offseason after 10 years in the NFL.

Minnesota made Bredeson the league’s earliest-drafted fullback (No. 159 overall) since 2015, when the New York Giants used a fourth-round pick (No. 108) on Alabama fullback Jalston Fowler. The pick illustrates both the role Ham carved out in O’Connell’s system and how new assistant head coach Frank Smith views the position after utilizing fullback Alec Ingold the past four years as the Dolphins offensive coordinator.

O’Connell, who was hired by the Vikings in 2022, previously was with a Rams team that didn’t roster a fullback.

“In 2022, I probably would’ve said we would never actually draft a fullback,” Ham told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “To be a part of showing our organization, those coaches that there’s value in this position; for them to go in and spend a draft pick on him, I’m super thankful I was able to be a part of that journey. I played 10 years. I hope Max plays 11.”

Why Max Bredeson might lead Vikings rookies in snaps

Among the Vikings’ nine-man draft class, Bredeson may end up playing the most snaps between offense and special teams.

Bredeson said he prided himself on being versatile at Michigan, where he aligned at multiple spots. He’s done the same throughout his first NFL training camp.

“Every day it feels like there’s something new,” Bredeson said. “It’s cool to be a part of; that there’s trust there to add stuff to my plate.”

O’Connell said Bredeson’s ability to learn in meeting rooms, digest that information and play without overthinking stands out for a rookie.

“We’re asking him to do a lot,” O’Connell said. “He’s also been a really physical presence for us to help get runs started.”

O’Connell said there are “no secrets” that Bredeson and the fullback position will be an integral part of the Vikings’ revamped run game. They’ve even sorted through backup options. They tried tight ends out at fullback before moving to outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss, who once took a snap at fullback in the 2024 SEC title game for Georgia. Chambliss had the lead block on a game-winning touchdown run.

“It’s not totally foreign to me,” said Chambliss, who has sat in some offensive meetings in addition to his defensive duties.

The NFL has moved away from fullbacks. The Vikings haven’t.

NFL fullback usage has plummeted from its heyday that extended into the 2000s; 26 fullbacks started at least six games during the 2000 season, per Pro Football Reference.

Fullbacks remained prominent into 2012, when Felton was named to the Pro Bowl while blocking for Adrian Peterson’s MVP season in Minnesota; that season, 16 teams — or half the league — used a fullback for at least 75 snaps.

Over the past decade, only about 10 teams per season have deployed a fullback for at least 75 snaps.

Many NFL teams, such as this year’s Ravens, have opted to cross train tight ends to line up in the backfield instead of rostering a fullback.

That’s what new Baltimore offensive coordinator Declan Doyle wants to do, putting Scott — the second-year fullback — in a precarious position. He was a 310-pound offensive tackle at Army and dropped to about 295 pounds for the 2025 draft thinking he’d be a center.

Ravens scouts asked Scott to run some routes at Army’s pro day, thinking he could replicate longtime fullback Patrick Ricard’s role under coach John Harbaugh.

Harbaugh was fired this offseason and hired by the New York Giants, who proceeded to sign Ricard away from Baltimore.

Scott is still with the Ravens, playing tight end.

He acknowledged he might be on another NFL roster soon, but credited his coaches for installing some fullback plays for him during the second half of the team’s preseason opener.

“So I can get more tape out,” Scott said. “I still have my tape from last year, too, and having practiced at tight end only helps my value.”

In Minnesota, on the other hand, fullbacks remain in the playbook.

After one Vikings camp practice, Ham stayed afterward and worked with Bredeson on some of the finer points of the position.

“I’m going to be there every step of the way — if he wants,” Ham said.

Strib