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Clutts makes impact
Clutts makes impact
A whirlwind month for fullback cut by Browns
By Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:27 p.m. CDT, October 5, 2011
During a 10-month stretch that began a little more than two years ago, Tyler Clutts was out of football, working three jobs and wondering if his dream was over.
The CFL's Edmonton Eskimos had released him in May 2009 after one season as an undersized defensive end. Bills were piling up quickly as he and his wife, Tiffany, had to pay for their wedding. The phone wasn't ringing.
But Tiffany encouraged him to continue pursuing his goal of playing in the NFL, even as the holiday season arrived and he was working out every morning at 5:30 before juggling jobs as an insurance broker and server at a sports bar. At night, he helped run a Christmas tree lot.
So, as Clutts sat in the San Francisco airport Tuesday night, connecting back to Chicago after he and Tiffany worked to finalize the purchase of a house, he reflected on his good fortune. The couple is expecting a daughter, their first child, next month.
"Really, I'm living on Cloud 10," Clutts said.
The 6-foot-2, 260-pound fullback stood in the locker room after helping pave the way for Matt Forte's 205-yard day on Sunday, and the top of his nose was cut up. He had the same kind of bloody face former Eagles and Raiders fullback Jon Ritchie was famous for.
"I was hoping to get one of these," he said grinning.
Clutts, who turns 27 next month, was on the field for 36 of the 49 offensive snaps as the Bears have reintroduced the fullback to the scheme and discovered their previously missing rushing attack.
It's been a whirlwind month. Clutts, among the final roster cuts by the Browns, was turned on to the Bears by Cleveland special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who spent the previous three seasons working under Dave Toub. The Bears plucked him off the Browns' practice squad four days before the start of the season, and he's fit in quickly, blocking and working on special teams.
Bears running backs coach Tim Spencer, who had two 1,000-yard seasons in the USFL before becoming a fullback for the Chargers in the same offense the Bears use, said Clutts had eight knockdowns in the game.
"Marion (Barber) and Kahlil (Bell) and I were standing there watching the game and we're always talking," Spencer said. "Those guys are like, 'Man, he's balling.' You could hear, he was just crunching guys."
The Bears got by without a fullback last season, using tight ends Brandon Manumaleuna and Greg Olsen in the backfield. Forte averaged 4.5 yards per carry, the best by a Bears back since Neal Anderson in 1989. Even with a makeshift fullback, Forte averaged 5.8 yards in two-back sets and 3.6 in one-back sets.
"We tried to get by with tight ends last year, but it's a different position," Spencer said. "When you're coming from five yards back (as a fullback) and you're having those collisions, those (tight ends) are more used to having their collisions about a yard or two away from them. It takes a different type of guy, and you've got to make adjustments on the run. Sometimes those guys can't. With the way we want to be able to run the football, we need a fullback."
Clutts, who became a long snapper after recording 23 1/2 sacks at Fresno State, began the transition to fullback with the Utah Blaze in the Arena League in the spring of 2010 and then hooked on with the UFL's Sacramento Mountain Lions. He joined the Browns practice squad at the end of last year and made it to his first NFL training camp this summer.
"My biggest goal all along was an opportunity," he said. "I knew I had the desire. I wasn't sure if I had the talent. Being out 10 months like I was kind of plays with your self-confidence."
Fresno State coach Pat Hill will not be surprised by any success Clutts enjoys. He's known Clutts, who was a quarterback in high school, since he was a ninth-grader.
"He is just so mentally and physically tough, leather tough. He's a self-starter, and when you hear a coach like me talk in glowing superlatives about him, everything I say about him is true," Hill said. "When I use the term he's an overachiever, I don't mean he's not a good player. He's a really good player. But he achieves over what is expected of him no matter what you have to do."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,3034013.story
Last edited by short faced bear; 10-05-2011 at 08:22 PM.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
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I'm falling in love with this guy.While playing as a kid. I played WR, TE and DE. I caught plenty of TD passes and had my share of sacks. As I got into coaching (football, basketball and baseball) I started to really get into these non-glamorous positions. In football I would let our OC run the offense during practice without a line or FB. I would take them and work on the fundamentals of blocking. In baseball I taught a lot of the guys without a good bat how to lay down a bunt. In basketball I worked a lot on defense. I was always the coach, during our football games that would jump all over kids for not blocking properly, but go crazy everytime I saw a FB, or pulling guard lay out a guy, or three on a run play.I won our youth football championship the year before last, and won the basketball championship three years ago. In basketball, we were the 4th seed out of seven teams in the playoffs. We had to play the #1 seed in our second playoff game that was racking up twice the points of anyother team due to having 1 stud kid on their team. I took one kid (our top defender) and had him double team that boy when he reached the freethrow line (youth rules. It was man to man outside of the line). We shut him down and won that game. In football we were the #2 seed. But before the playoffs we had one of our linemen (which we were thin at) break his hand. I had 3 subs on the team. I had one of our backup WR's play left guard. He was 53 lbs in the 6th grade. We won the championship in overtime.Ever since then I have always loved these guys that get no glory for their job. Clutts won't be a leading scorer, or anyone you will ever see in the stats books, but you can damn sure bet that I'm yelling, clapping and going crazy everytime I see him put someone on their ass, or make an excellent block that leads to 10 extra yards.
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High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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My phone is jacking up paragraphs. Sorry about that being all 1 block.
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Good read.......but a hard read, LOL. You can add me to the list of guys who think Clutts was a great pickup. It's high time we used a true FB at that spot as opposes to converting TE's into FB's. He's a good ST contributor too. The last time we had a FB with this kind of talent was when we had Bryan Johnson before his inuries.
Just look at the difference in Fortes YPC when he had a lead back as opposed to when he doesn't. Once we get Carimi healthy again and with the TE's and Clutts our running game should be one of the best and Martz needs to stick with it. Forte pointed out something in his interview about just that. We have pretty good sized line and we can wear teams out as the game goes by. Both Forte's 4th quarter run and Barber's TD that followed may not have come off as they did had it happened in the first half.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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In the future we need to develop more than one FB. Since "Smartz" doesn't use the FB much I kind of think he had some power taken away or had the riot act read to him. Either way it's good for the team.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
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Much better with clutts at fb then Greg olsen lol
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I think Angelo was more attracted to the fact he could play DE.
Whoever did recommend him to our resident village idiot, good call.
He's what we've been crying out for for years, some hard nosed blue collar toughness in the backfield. If you can't open an envelope with your OL, the least you can do is give your runner a FB that is willing to lay it on the line.
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Originally Posted by
Cornish 
I think Angelo was more attracted to the fact he could play DE.
Whoever did recommend him to our resident village idiot, good call.
He's what we've been crying out for for years, some hard nosed blue collar toughness in the backfield. If you can't open an envelope with your OL, the least you can do is give your runner a FB that is willing to lay it on the line.
LMAO!!! JA never met a potential DE he didn't like. It was Chris Tabor, the Browns ST coach who turned us on to him. That and the fact that we saw him in action in that last preseason game. Must have impressed a few people because when the Browns tried to sneak him onto the PS the Bears grabbed him.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
soulman LMAO!!! JA never met a potential DE he didn't like. It was Chris Tabor, the Browns ST coach who turned us on to him. That and the fact that we saw him in action in that last preseason game. Must have impressed a few people because when the Browns tried to sneak him onto the PS the Bears grabbed him.
I'm not sure how that convo goes, but how does Chris Tabor recommend to the bears that they should pick a guy off of the Brown's PS? Doesn't make much sense to me.
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Originally Posted by
blinddeafmute I'm not sure how that convo goes, but how does Chris Tabor recommend to the bears that they should pick a guy off of the Brown's PS? Doesn't make much sense to me.
I'm not sure he actually recommended him but Tabor was formerly the Bears ST Asst. so there is a connection. Let's just say I think the Bears became aware of him through that connection and following that preseason game figured he'd become a good ST guy for us as well. I think the fact that we got a great blocking back to boot is a bonus.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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