Jeff Ladd Novak (born July 27, 1967) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

who played professionally in the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of t ...

and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. Novak was born in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per th ...

, and grew up in

Clear Lake City Clear Lake City is a master-planned community located in southeast Harris County, Texas, within the Bay Area of Greater Houston. It is the second-largest master-planned community in Houston – behind Kingwood. The majority of the communi ...

outside

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He went to Clear Lake High School and he graduated from

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest universit ...

in 1990.

Professional football

Novak was drafted as a guard in the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott ...

by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, but was cut and signed by the World Football League. He played for the

Montreal Machine The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian team in the World League of American Football (WLAF), a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League (NFL) that played in 1991 and 1992. There were also three Euro ...

in 1990 and 1991. The

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

signed him in 1991 and he made the team as a development player. He played for the Giants in 1991 and 1992 and then went to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

and made the active roster to play for 1993 and 1994. Novak was signed by the Miami Dolphins in 1994. In 1995, he was taken in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

that brought the first NFL team to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. Novak played for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

until he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

in November, 1998. His Jaguar contract expired at the end of 1998 and was not renewed.

End of a career

During a pre-season game, Novak injured his leg which had recently suffered a severe

hematoma A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillaries. A hematoma is ...

during a practice. Novak contracted a

staph infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the ''Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasio ...

in the leg which caused a permanent disability. In June 2002, Novak sued the team physician for

malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions in ...

and sought $7.8 million in compensation. The judge eventually dismissed the case.

Post football

Along with

Will Furrer William Mason Furrer (born February 5, 1968) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears, Phoenix Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, St. Louis Rams, and Jacksonville Jaguars. High scho ...

and

Tony Boselli Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American former football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at USC, where he received ...

, Novak is one of the partners of IF marketing & advertising, an agency founded in 2002 and based in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census. It is 30 miles (48 km) north of Austin. Founded in 1875 from four existing colleges, the oldest of ...

with an office in

. The firm was initially named, ''Intra Focus''.
Florida Times-Union, October 2, 2009, "Briefs: Boselli marketing firm opens Jacksonville site" In 2010, Novak teamed up with his brother, Jack, and licensed architect, Jim Cramer to launc
Novak Brothers
a real estate planning and development company. In June 2011, Novak Brothers broke ground o
The Brownstone at The Summit
a community of custom single-family homes inspired by 19th-century

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

s found in Chicago and New York. The Brownstone is part o
The Summit at Rivery Park
a 36-acre

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to ...

located in Georgetown, Texas.

References

External links

ESPN: At what price a player's pain?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Jeff 1967 births Living people People from Arlington Heights, Illinois Clear Lake High School (Houston, Texas) alumni Players of American football from Houston American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Texas State Bobcats football players Montreal Machine players Miami Dolphins players Jacksonville Jaguars players People from Georgetown, Texas