backfield
Americannoun
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(used with a plural verb) the members of the team who, on offense, are stationed behind the linemen and, on defense, behind the linebackers.
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their positions considered as a unit.
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the area where the backs play.
noun
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(sometimes functioning as plural) the quarterback and running backs in a team
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the area behind the line of scrimmage from which the backfield begin each play
Etymology
Origin of backfield
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Smith-Njigba has given opposing defensive coaches nightmares all season as he can be deployed anywhere -- his explosive runs come from out wide, in the slot, or even the backfield.
From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026
Meanwhile, Darnold couldn’t run if his career depended on it, so he stays in the backfield and gets blasted.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
The play was a quarterback draw, calling for Mendoza to pause for a beat in the backfield, let the defense flow around him and then run straight into the teeth of the opposition.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
Battered, bruised and well beaten, Smith had coughed up a horrendous blooper for Sale's sixth try, failing to gather a routine backfield ball to allow a chasing Raffi Quirke to dot down.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2025
But probably it was the thought of Odell, as he had been called all that week during practice, staring across from him in the Marshall backfield.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
