Andy Janovich (born May 23, 1993) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

fullback. He played

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, and was selected in the sixth round of the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL draft was the 81st annual draft of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. Janovich played for the Broncos,

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

. Janovich played the entirety of his rookie contract with the Broncos before he was traded to the Browns during the 2020 NFL offseason, where he played with the Browns for 2 seasons (Janovich had previously signed a contract extension to remain with Denver during the 2019 season). He signed with the Texans as a free agent in the 2022 NFL offseason and was released prior to the start of the regular season. Janovich retired from professional football in January 2023 after not playing during the 2022 season.

Early life

Janovich attended and played

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at Gretna High School.

College career

Janovich played

, where he spent the majority of his playing time on

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and alternating at fullback with C. J. Zimmerer, primarily in blocking roles. His touches were few and far between until the 2015 season, where he was fourth in total rushing yards with 265 rushing yards (6.3 yards per carry), 3 rushing

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

, and two receptions for 58 yards; he also led the team on special teams tackles with 13 (11 solo).

Professional career

Pre-draft

Janovich was one of four Nebraska Cornhuskers and one of five fullbacks to attend the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

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. He tied Northwestern's Dan Vitale for first in the

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among all running backs. On March 4, 2016, he participated at Nebraska's

pro day The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

, but opted to not perform drills and only meet with team representatives and scouts. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Janovich was projected to be a seventh round pick or a priority undrafted free agent. He was ranked as the seventh best fullback in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Denver Broncos

2016

The

selected Janovich in the sixth round (176th overall) of the

. He was the first of three fullbacks selected in 2016. On May 13, 2016, the Broncos signed Janovich to a four-year, $2.5 million contract that included a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $164,309. Throughout

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

, he competed against veteran Juwan Thompson for the starting fullback position. He made his professional regular season debut in the Broncos' season-opener against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

and scored a 28-yard touchdown on his first career carry during the 21–20 victory. On September 25, 2016, he earned his first career start and had one carry for two-yards during a 29–17 victory over the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

. On November 30, 2016, Janovich was placed on

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after having ankle surgery. He finished the season with four carries for 33 rushing yards in 11 games and five starts.

2017–2019

Janovich entered the 2017 season slated as the starting fullback under new head coach Vance Joseph. On October 22, 2017, he had one carry for a three-yard gain and caught the first two passes of his career for 14 yards during a 21–0 loss to the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

. On December 10, 2017, he scored a one-yard rushing touchdown in the Broncos' 23–0 win over the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. In the 2017 season, he finished with six carries for 12 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown to go along with four receptions for 35 receiving yards. In 2018, Janovich played all 16 games (7 starts), recording eight receptions for 112 yards with one touchdown and rushing twice for five yards. On December 30, 2018, Janovich caught his first career receiving touchdown on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Case Keenum in a loss to the Chargers. On October 11, 2019, Janovich signed a three-year, $5.7 million contract extension with the Broncos. In Week 11, Janovich suffered a dislocated elbow injury and was ruled out for the rest of the year. He was placed on injured reserve on November 19. He appeared in seven games and recorded five receptions for 42 receiving yards and had one rushing touchdown.

Cleveland Browns

Janovich was traded to the

on March 20, 2020, in exchange for the Browns' seventh-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft. He was placed on the reserve/

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list by the team on November 16, 2020, and activated on November 30. On October 12, 2021, Janovich was placed on injured reserve. He was activated on November 6.

Houston Texans

On March 25, 2022, Janovich signed with the

. He was released on August 21, 2022. Janovich announced his retirement from the NFL on January 2, 2023.

Personal life

Janovich is the son of Ron and Brenda Janovich. He was raised in Gretna, Nebraska and attended Gretna High School, where he starred in

and wrestling. In 2010–2011, Janovich won the Nebraska Class B 189-pound title, with a 53–0 record. In 2011–2012, Janovich won the 220-pound title, finishing at 46–0. Andy is of Lithuanian, German, and Irish descent. Andy married his college sweetheart, Madison McConkey, in February 2018. Madison filed for divorce July 25, 2024.

References

External links

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Nebraska Cornhuskers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janovich, Andy 1993 births Living people American football fullbacks Players of American football from Nebraska People from Sarpy County, Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Denver Broncos players Cleveland Browns players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen