The quarterback is probably the most notable and recognizable player for the offensive unit. He is the leader of the offense and signals the start of the play. It's the quarterback that receives the snap and then either throws the ball or hands it off to someone to run.
In a traditional set, the quarterback will be joined by a fullback, halfback, tight end and two wide receivers to make up the "skilled" players. Skilled players are the ones who usually handle the football from the quarterback either by running with the ball or catching it.
The fullback is the running back immediately behind the quarterback. His primary duties are to block for the halfback. But lately, with offenses doing more and more and fullbacks making the conversion from big bulky bruisers to athletic-type guys, fullbacks are getting more and more carries. Fullbacks are also used in short yard situations such as third-and-1 and fourth-and-inches.
The halfback is commonly known as the running back and is the primary carrier of the football. Most halfbacks will get 20-plus carries a game while the fullback gets usually no more than five or six. There have, however, been exceptions to that rule. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a fullback by the name of Mike Alstott. When the Bucs lost their halfback one year, Alstott stepped in and became the primary halfback for the team and didn't do a bad job at all.
The other skilled offensive positions are wide receiver and tight end. Like I said, in most offensive sets, there will be two wide receivers and one tight end. The wide receivers are the guys that catch the ball from the quarterback. They line up away from the rest of the team out to either side near the sidelines. Wide receivers are also called wide outs or flankers and are usually the fastest guys on the offensive unit.
The tight end is a bigger version of the wide receiver. He also runs out to catch passes from the quarterback. But unlike the wide receiver, the tight end is used more as a blocker on run plays. In some situations, teams will put a certain guy in at tight end specifically to block on a running play. And then, they will put in a different tight end when they expect to pass the ball. The tight end always lines up next to one of the tackles on the offensive line.
As far as the offensive line goes, there are five guys who are responsible for blocking for the quarterback or the running back.
The one in the middle is called the center. He's usually the leader of the offensive line and is responsible for any and all changes that need to be made.
The positions to the left and the right of the center are the guards and the positions to the outside of the guards are the tackles. So from left to right, the offensive line positions are left tackle, left guard, center, right guard and right tackle. And once again, the tight end lines up to either side of the tackles.
