Last legit full-time fullback I remember was Lorenzo Neal in front of LaDanian Tomlinson in San Diego.
When a new coach decided a fullback wasn't neccessary Tomlinson took a helluva beating every game running between the tackles and that shortened his career.
Neal was a beast, smaller than Steve Avila but built about the same and whoever was in Tomlinson's way got moved out.
When there were fullbacks the featured running backs had longer careers. You thought of backfield combos, with one quarterback-wide receiver combo where today you think of a quarterback and his two top receiver and one running back.