I don't consider this "forward thinking" as it has been covered many times by many board games, including this one. Base is a part of the player. Figure + Base = Player. To selectively exclude the base as a part of the player (an extension of it at the very least) would be going backward, not forward.

This is a board game, though the players do move. WHEN we finally come to grips with the fact that this is NOT REAL football, it never will be, and we are subjected to the limitations of the equipment we use, THEN we can get back to playing the friggin game instead of wasting so much time trying to disprove the obvious.

I don't do exercises in futility. Real football requires humans on a field. EF, MF, BB is a football SIMULATION at best. Base is part of the player, that receiver is out of bounds, the most widely used rules sets used today do not even require the "ball carrier" to carry a ball.

-Mike Pratt