Nicknames are for veterans. Broncos safety T.J. Ward, for example, can call himself “Boss” because he earned it over six seasons. Rookies, though, do not get nicknames. They get numbers. At best they hear “Hey, rook.”

Rookie fullback Andy Janovich is a rarity. One week into his first NFL training camp, he already has a nickname. He is “Hammerhead.”

“There are plays when I knock the crap out of a linebacker or something and everybody seems excited,” Janovich said at Broncos headquarters. “But that’s just the role of the fullback. I feel like they’re liking what I’m doing.”

The glory days of the smashmouth fullback in the NFL are distant. The Broncos drafted 10 fullbacks from 1960-67. But they drafted only three since 1968. They grabbed Janovich in the sixth round in April, the highest-picked fullback in the draft.

As coach Gary Kubiak rebuilds the Broncos’ offense this season in his image, he started with a fullback. Last season, with Peyton Manning playing out his final games in a one-back, shotgun or pistol formation, the Broncos had no need for a fullback. It just didn’t fit. This season is different. Related Articles September 14, 2020 Noah Fant, poised for breakout season, leads talented group of Broncos tight ends

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“I know how I’d like to use them,” Kubiak said. “When you’re operating with a fullback offensively, there are certain things you get defensively. When you’re a one-back team with three or four (receivers) wide, you get a variety of things and teams can settle down a bit.”

In his 22 seasons as a head coach or offensive coordinator, Kubiak has unsettled the NFL order by being a bit of a throwback. When Kubiak coached the Houston Texans in 2012, fullback James Casey played 53.6 percent of their offensive snaps, ranking second in the NFL among fullbacks. When Kubiak was the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, fullback Kyle Juszczyk played 42.2 percent of their snaps, ranking third in the NFL.

And when Kubiak came to Denver, general manager John Elway saw the change coming, promising to bring back the fullback.

“To be really effective in the running game, you have to run the fullback,” Elway said last year. “We will have people in the fullback position.”

Elway wasn’t lying. It just took an extra year to implement. The players who logged any time at fullback last season weren’t even fullbacks: halfback Juwan Thompson and tight end Virgil Green.

That led the Broncos to Janovich, a 6-foot-2, 238-pound bruiser from Nebraska who became the first fullback drafted by Denver since Arkansas’ Peyton Hillis was a seventh-round pick in 2008. Janovich loves the position. He feels like a fullback in his core. And he makes a defense feel it too.

“Downhill hitting. I love one-on-one blocks with linebackers,” said Janovich, who joined the Cornhuskers as a walk-on. “They’re the biggest, toughest guys out there. I get a headache now and then, but that’s just what the position is.”

The Broncos ranked only 17th in the 32-team NFL in yards rushing last season, but they were 17th in rushing attempts too. Manning did not fit with an under-center, hand-off style. That will change this season, no matter who is playing quarterback. Denver is a running team now. And a running team needs a lead blocker.

“We ask our fullback to do a lot of things,” Kubiak said. “We knew what Andy was when we drafted him.”

In the far corner of a practice field at Dove Valley this week, Janovich plowed into a blocking sled with the verve of a big-horned ram. As a sophomore at Gretna (Neb.) High School, Janovich was beaten out for the starting running back job. His coach made him a fullback, and he has loved playing that position ever since. The fullback is first through the line.

“It’s different than a pulling guard. A fullback is looking to kill you,” said Janovich, 23. “I’m having a blast. I love this. I’m just trying to work my butt off every day.”