RENTON — In August of 2008 Marcel Reece was fresh out of college, an undrafted wide receiver from the University of Washington just hoping to catch on with the Oakland Raiders and make his NFL dreams come true.
But a mere two days into training camp, none other than legendary former Raiders owner Al Davis changed Reece’s football destiny forever. That’s when Davis summoned Reece into his office and told Reece he was a fullback.
“I got to training camp, showed up, he told me I was going to be his fullback and I’d be the best in the world, don’t worry about it,” Reece said. “That was it. The rest is kind of history.”
Now, more than eight years later, it’s both Reece and the Seattle Seahawks who are benefiting from Davis’ prescient move.
The Seahawks’ late-season signing of Reece is not only providing Seattle a dimension at fullback that’s been missing since the days of Michael Robinson, the Seahawks also gave the nine-year veteran his first taste of the playoffs.
“The reality (of playing in the playoffs) was much better than my expectations,” Reece, who made his first career postseason appearance in this past Saturday’s 26-6 victory over the Detroit Lions, said Tuesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, it’s just another game, you just make plays,’ and you’re right, it is just another football game. But it’s the most exciting football game I’ve probably been a part of. It was probably a combination of it being the wild-card round, my first playoff experience and our team hitting on all cylinders. All three phases of the game were playing lights out, the crowd was roaring and it was just a fun game.”
The fullback position hasn’t been a prominent one in Seattle’s offense since Robinson filled the position from 2010-13, with the Seahawks preferring to do most of their offense out of a one-back or empty set.
But Saturday’s victory over Detroit, Reece made the fullback position relevant again for the Seahawks. The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder was on the field for 33 of Seattle’s 73 offensive snaps, by far the most the Seahawks used their fullback this season — in the 16 regular-season games Seattle’s fullbacks had a combined total of 107 snaps.
Against the Lions the Seahawks deployed Reece in a variety of manners, using him as a lead blocker in the I-formation, while also splitting him out as a receiver. That versatility not only made it easier to get Reece on the field, it makes it harder for the defense to anticipate Seattle’s formation based on personnel.
“You can do a little bit of everything if you have all the tools, and Marcel gives us the fullback that we can run a couple different personnel,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, noting that Reece was recovering well from the foot injury he suffered early in the game against the Lions. “We used three different personnel with him in the game. He’s very versatile and very smart, we’re not restricted in any way with the kind of things we like to do when he’s playing for us.”
The Seahawks had a revolving door at fullback all season long, and when Will Tukuafu suffered a concussion in Seattle’s 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Dec. 4 the Seahawks were on the lookout again.
That’s when the Seahawks turned to Reece. The 31-year-old spent the previous eight seasons with the Raiders, being named to the Pro Bowl every season from 2012-15. However, Reece was suspended for the first four games of this season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, and once he served his suspension he was waived by Oakland.
Reece remained on the market before signing with the Seahawks on Dec. 16, and getting a chance to experience the playoffs for the first time played a key role in his decision to sign with Seattle.
“It was a big part of it,” Reece said. “Teams that I chose not to go to for specific reasons were because they were in situations I didn’t necessarily want or need to go through at this point of time in my career. I’ve been through a lot and I wanted to make sure I made the decision that was best for me, to really play some good football, a great brand of football. I knew Seattle was going to be the place.”
The Seahawks were rewarded as Reece played a role in Seattle’s victory over the Lions. Then at the end of the game Reece received a reward of his own, when Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson gave him the game ball.
“Most people probably didn’t catch it,” Reece said. “It meant a lot to me. It was right on the field, we were in our victory offense, it was the last kneel down and he turned around and said, ‘This one’s for you. First one.’”
And Reece is hoping he can continue contributing to Seattle’s postseason push, thus ensuring that Saturday’s playoff victory won’t be his last.
For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at www.heraldnet.com/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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