Seahawks Add Fullback Depth With Robbie Ouzts’ Status Uncertain
Awaiting further updates on injured starter Robbie Ouzts midway through training camp, the Seattle Seahawks added some insurance to the fullback position, reuniting running backs coach Thomas Hammock with a former pupil.
As announced by the team before a walkthrough practice on Thursday, the Seahawks have signed former Northern Illinois fullback Brock Lampe to their 90-man roster. In a corresponding move, the team released tight end Lance Mason, one of a handful of initial undrafted free agent signings made by the team in April.
While most of the NFL continues to skip out on having traditional fullbacks on their roster, the Seahawks have zigged back into the minority over the past two seasons with former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and new play caller Brian Fleury coming from the coaching tree of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. Last season, Seattle finished fifth in 21 personnel usage (11%) with two backs and one tight end on the field, while San Francisco finished first at a remarkable 36% clip, 12% more than any other team in the league.
With Fleury now handling play calling duties, the Seahawks opened camp with two fullbacks on their roster in Ouzts and Brady Russell, but the former has now missed four straight practices due to an undisclosed injury. Coach Mike Macdonald did not have any additional updates after Wednesday’s practice, but on Monday, he indicated that the team hoped to have more information on his status in coming days.
“Were going to try and find some more information with Robbie’s situation soon. I’ll just leave it at that right now,” Macdonald said. “We’ll have an update for you sooner than later.”
As a rookie, Ouzts missed four games in the regular season on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain and then missed both the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LX with a neck injury. While the team has not specified what injury he’s currently sitting out with, if he’s dealing with recurring neck-related issues, that would be a major cause for concern for the Seahawks, who have seen the likes of Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril, and Chris Carson have their careers ended with neck injuries in prior seasons.
As things stand, Russell has been seeing the bulk of snaps at the fullback position in recent practices, and with Ouzts out indefinitely, that should continue as camp rolls on with Fleury indicating on Tuesday that the team will also utilize two running backs on the field together at times. But with Russell not being a prototypical fullback size-wise, Seattle clearly wanted to have another option who more closely resembles Ouzts physically, leading to the signing of Lampe on Thursday.
Going undrafted out of Northern Illinois in 2025, Lampe signed with the Patriots, spending the entire season on injured reserve with a leg injury before being released last month. After starting his collegiate career as a linebacker, Hammock and his staff moved Lampe to fullback before his sophomore season, and he became an important piece of their offense.
Over four seasons with the Huskies, the 250-pound Lampe rushed 20 times for 66 yards and two touchdowns while adding 18 catches for 216 yards and a touchdown. A stellar lead blocker as well, he helped star back Antario Brown eclipse 1,200 rushing yards in 2023 and played a key role in the team averaging north of 200 rushing yards per game in 2024, which featured a road upset of Notre Dame.
With how much the team deploys two-back formations, this could be a simple case of the Seahawks needing a camp body to conduct practices and play snaps in preseason games until Ouzts returns to play. But if the former fifth round pick needs to miss extended time or in a worst case scenario misses the season, Lampe may be more than an August audition candidate with an opportunity to fight his way onto the roster as a traditional fullback with few other options available to play it in today’s NFL.
