Third-year fullback does the dirty work
Derek Carr comes from a football family.
His uncle, Lon Boyett, was a tight end for the Raiders for a short time in 1978. His brother, David, was a longtime NFL quarterback, and his brother, Darren, was a defensive tackle at Fresno State. Carr has three sons. The odds are high that football will be in their lives in the future.
Yet, Carr said this week that none will play fullback. “Those collisions,” Carr bemoaned.
However, the Raiders QB is also very happy to have a fullback in his life. Third-year fullback Alec Ingold has been an unsung hero for the Las Vegas Raiders since he signed as an undrafted free-agent from Wisconsin.
Ingold, a high-character leader of the team at the age 25, is a big part of the offense and he is part of several packages for Jon Gruden, who is still one of the few NFL playmakers who has a big need for a fullback.
“Alec has that speed. When we train, he runs all the routes. He doesn’t run fullback stuff. He runs slants and go’s and digs, and all these kinds of things. And he has that ability, but he has that old school like (longtime NFL fullback) Lorenzo Neal feel to him, too,” Carr said.
“You got to be different to play fullback with the way that we run the power and the counters and the (isolation plays). “I mean it’s one-on-one, you and that guy in the hole, and if you don’t win it’s going to be a loss. And more times than not, Alec wins, so I’m trying to give the guy as much praise as I can because he’s very vital to us. And not only that, he’s extending his role. He’s trying to play running back.
Just in case someone’s hurt, he can go play running back. He knows all the assignments. He goes and plays tight end some days. He’ll go with the tight ends, and he’ll run all the routes and know the protections and all that kind of stuff. A guy like that is so valuable to your team.”
ingold, who scored the team’s first touchdown at Allegiant Stadium in a Week 2 win over the New Orleans Saints last year, was a quarterback in high school in Wisconsin. So, he is a candidate to throw Carr his first NFL touchdown reception. It’s something Carr craves.
“Oh, I’ll let him throw it. He’s got a cannon. He can throw the ball,” Carr said about catching an option touchdown pass from his fullback. “He was a quarterback. He got recruited as a quarterback, so he can throw it. I don’t know about with the neck roll, that might be a little different but he can definitely throw.”
I could easily see Ingold putting touchdown-pass thrower on his Raiders’ resume.