Philadelphia Eagles need to keep an eye on Michael Burton

A fullback could give the Philadelphia Eagles some trouble in Week 14.

Of all 53 players on the New Orleans Saints, one of the last players you might think opponents should be worried about is a fullback. Michael Burton‘s impact on this Saints team cannot be overlooked. The Philadelphia Eagles must take notice of him when he’s on the field. He’s become one of Sean Payton’s newest toys.

Burton won’t stand out in the box score like most fullbacks. What he does provide is excellent blocking though. He’s ranked fourth out of 13 fullbacks by Pro Football Focus. Recently, the New Orleans Saints have been splitting him out wide and using him on quarterback power runs with Taysom Hill.

He’s done a phenomenal job leading the way and sealing his block. A lot of Taysom’s big runs wouldn’t happen without the help of Burton. The Saints often bring him in motion to get those blocks too. Sometimes the Saints might even split him out wide and just use him as a decoy. Luke Johnson from NOLA.com puts it like this:

"That tendency is really easy to pick up. If Burton is in the slot and he goes in motion, it is almost always a quarterback power run to the side he’s moving toward. Burton would be a lead blocker, and a pulling guard would follow him to serve as the primary block for Hill to read.Sunday, the Saints toyed around with that tendency twice. And while neither play was particularly effective, it was interesting to see how the Saints are using their own history with a play to try and catch teams cheating."

That last part is what should worry Philadelphia Eagles fans.

The ‘Birds’ defense has lacked discipline many times this year. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has good numbers overall but the big plays have been avoidable. It feels like the same mistakes every week. Jackson went on to reference multiple instances in which the Saints ran different plays off of the same looks with Burton motioning.

Instead of a quarterback power, they used Burton in motion on an end-around to Alvin Kamara and they also had him reverse his motion one time to catch the defense off guard. This is something Schwartz’s group could really struggle with.

While it hasn’t resulted in any highlight-reel plays yet, it can keep the chains moving. It’s been used in the red zone as well. Burton sealed key blocks out of the backfield on two touchdowns for Hill in Weeks 11 and 12. Payton will also line up Burton in his traditional fullback spot out of the backfield and it works pretty well. They don’t do it as often but the last time they did it was in Week 12 and he got a key block that led to a 15-yard run for Kamara.

Every once in a while, they’ll release Burton out of the backfield on a route and he’ll get a few yards. The Eagles should also watch for the Saints to go with heavy formations in short-yardage situations and hand the ball off to Burton for a few yards. Lastly, Burton can play on special teams as well most notably blocking on punts and getting downfield to help swarm the punt returner. Just a few weeks ago versus the Chicago Bears, he wrapped up Dwayne Harris on a punt return to limit him to a five-yard return.

Burton won’t get much attention heading into this matchup. There’s plenty of major headlines in this one but he’ll quietly play a big role in this one. The Eagles should keep an eye on ’32’.