My cousin and I have been playing football since we were young. He always played TE and now wants to convert to FB. Are

[950]

When I mean dead I mean useless/unused.

[Entropy]

First of all, don't choose what you do at lower levels of football based on what you might benefits from IF you got into the NFL because, while I don't know you, I can statistically safely say you and he will not get to the NFL. People don't appreciate how freakishly small the number of guys who even get a single NFL contract are.

But to your main question, no, FBs aren't dead...but they are in decline. The lead blocker is a hugely useful thing in the run game. Many RBs have huge disparities between their success running without a FB and running with one. While you can use a TE/H-back or pulling lineman as a lead blocker, they're never quite as good at it and many RBs will sing the praises of good FBs they've worked with and how well they clean out the hole compared to alternatives.

But the passing game is taking over, and FBs are now only getting 20-30% of the offensive snaps. Everyone wants to run 11 personnel or 12 personnel to get that extra pass catcher in play. But about 10 years ago, the TE position had fallen out of favor before big former basketball player types of TEs came along and brought the position back into vogue. I suspect the FB will hang around. It's just waiting for a revolution.

[658]

They become H backs.