Right now, I’ll proceed finding out the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 NFL Draft class. Subsequent is Indiana FB Riley Nowakowski.
Contemplating that fullback place, which Pittsburgh introduced him as when making the choice, I needed to check out how he blocked final season.
First, right here’s Nowakowski’s snap counts by alignment in 2025 for context:
Inline TE: 474. Slot WR: 89. Extensive Out: 35. Fullback: 18. Contemplating the overwhelming majority of snaps have been at tight finish final season, I grouped him with them for honest comparisons’ sake (in my view).
Listed below are Professional Soccer Focus (PFF) blocking grades for the 21 drafted tight ends:
Nowakowski fared very nicely among the many run-blocking grades, precisely what I needed to see for a projected fullback. His 73.7 run-blocking grade ranked second among the many 21 qualifiers, so hopefully it’s obvious within the NFL. His pass-blocking grade is across the imply, a 68.5 mark that ranked thirteenth.
There are, after all, questions. What’s going to his blocking seem like within the NFL, and the way will he regulate to a primarily FB alignment? Whereas the grades are subjective, they paint an optimistic image of what he may present, with run blocking being clearly optimistic.
We see Nowakowski’s run blocking is risky. His 2.4 % blown block charge was fourth-worst amongst his friends, so seeing some whiffs and missed assignments appears affordable to count on.
The blocking stats paint Nowakowski as a strongly graded however risky run blocker, and a median however regular cross blocker who did so steadily. All this got here primarily from TE alignment, so how issues look and pan out shifting ahead will probably be fascinating. Right here’s to hoping the draft funding pays off.
