Andy Janovich could find more opportunities to contribute this season

The Denver Broncos took Andy Janovich with the 176th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and while he was used a fair amount during his rookie year (when healthy) he was not used that much on offense in 2017.

Name: Andy Janovich
Position: Fullback
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 238
Age: 25
Experience: 3 years
College: Nebraska

Janovich had 235 offensive snaps in 2016 (21.9%) in 11 games, but only 164 offensive snaps (14.6%) in 2017 despite appearing in all 16 games. He did increase his special teams snaps from 39.7% in 2016 to 67.8% in 2017. He was a special teams monster in college.

The Good

Andy Janovich was the fullback that was supposed to make the running game work and when we had offensive coaches who chose to use him, he did make the running game better. Janovich is also a very good target out of the backfield catching 9 of 13 balls thrown in his direction during his two years in the league (even making on catch with one hand while the other was in a cast). Jano has been decently effective on short yardage and goal-line carries with 5 of his 10 career caries going for a first down or a touchdown.

The Bad

I don’t know how much room there is for a fullback on the roster anymore. I also don’t know how much Bill Musgrave has historically used a fullback (or a larger RB who could block), but I’ll discuss that more later in the status section. Janovich’s two biggest supporters (Gary Kubiak and Brock Olivo either have diminished roles or are no longer with the team).

Quotable

Janovich was asked a couple of questions after OTAs and his answers are informative:

“We got [Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Loren] Landow in there. He ’s going to be awesome. I feel like I ’m getting really strong again. He ’s got us kind of like old Nebraska work out sessions. We ’re lifting heavy weights again and he ’s got us doing a lot of running and all of this different type of stuff for speed. It ’s just like being in Nebraska . I’m excited. ” On if switching coaches and coordinators has an effect on him as a fullback “Yeah, you never know with my position. There are only 20 -21 of us or something like that. So, you just never know what ’s going to happen. It ’s a tough position to play. Not everybody uses them, but the teams that do use them tend to use them [a lot] . I feel like I’m getting used this year. You just never know. I hope so. ”

2018 Status

So after doing some research I have found the Musgrave likes to use fullbacks in his offensive game plan. Here are the fullbacks that the he has had when he has been the OC and how much they have been used. Note that the Minnesota Vikings had 245 pound Toby Gerhardt as their backup running back during the three years that Musgrave was the OC, hence the zero carries by fullbacks.

Given that Musgrave has generally used at least one fullback in his offense I would be really surprised to see Janovich getting cut.