49ers roster 2023: Kyle Juszczyk is consistently awesome (and we want it that way)

The 49ers rely heavily on fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and his role will remain both important and unchanged heading into 2023.

For those who feel the fullback position is an outdated, archaic piece of football that is slowly dying away, San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk is here to remind you otherwise.

Granted, the perennial Pro Bowler is such because there are awfully few who do things as well as he does at this increasingly rare position. Yet Juszczyk is so vital to head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense because he does so many varying things, all of them well.

And that's why Juszczyk is so important to the Niners and will continue to be so in 2023.

Why is Kyle Juszczyk so important to 49ers?

From a statistical vantage point, it's not hard to see why some feel as if the big bucks San Francisco regularly spends on Juszczyk is money wasted.

He's not a regular rusher, averaging between eight and 10 carries per season. And while he's a total mismatch in the receiving game, Juszczyk has never crested more than 330 receiving yards in a single season with the 49ers. In 2022, he had just 200 receiving yards, which marked an all-time low with the franchise dating back to when he first joined as a free agent in 2017.

None of that paints the full picture, though.

Juszczyk can merely be a draw or decoy, lining up at any spot all over the field. And he's also an elite-level run blocker, too, which will gain importance for improving the prowess of All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey.

If any of this is new to you, you probably haven't been watching Niners football for very long.

What money is Kyle Juszczyk making with the 49ers in 2023?

Juszczyk is frequently seen as a contractual outlier, regularly making significantly more money on a year-to-year basis than other fullbacks around the league.

It doesn't seem as if San Francisco cares about that, though.

According to Spotrac, Juszczyk will earn up to $5.25 million this season as part of the five-year, $27 million contract he signed entering 2021:

$10 million of that $27 million is guaranteed, but there's almost no chance the 49ers choose to move on from the 32-year-old standout from Harvard.

What fans should expect from Kyle Juszczyk this season.

One of the great things about Juszczyk is his consistency.

Sure, 2022 might have been something of a down year for him, statistically, but padding stats isn't why Juszczyk is a big part of the offense. There are plenty of proverbial mouths to feed on offense anyway, including McCaffrey, and Juszczyk's other primary job is to make sure those star players are getting their stats padded as well.

Read more: Kyle Juszczyk drops by the Niner Noise Podcast to say hi

Aside from his regular prowess in the blocking game, Juszczyk still probably lands somewhere in that 200-yard receiving crop, and he'll likely get a decent number of carries on the ground, too, in short-yardage situations. Perhaps another eight to 10 in 2023, which seems about consistent.

Frequently enough, though, look for Juszczyk to be in motion, drawing an opposing defender with him to help open something up for someone else.

Oh, and all the other little things, too.

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