BIOGRAPHY
Robert Joseph Tonyan Jr. was born April 30, 1994 in McHenry, Illinois. He is Tight End in the National Football League.
Robert Tonyan Jr. lettered two years in both football and basketball at McHenry High School-East Campus. He earned All-State nominations in 2010 and 2011 and 2011 All-State Honorable Mention 7A. Tonyan was named All-Fox Valley Conference in 2010 and 2011. He set the McHenry record of 5,000 passing yards and had career totals of 40 passing TD’s. He set the single-season record of 2,734 passing yards and 22 TDs. Tonyan had a career completion percentage of 57.1.
Tonyan played college football at Indiana State. He played in 11 games for the Sycamores at the quarterback position in his sophomore year. Tonyan earned his first career start at Illinois State, the first of three starts under center during the season. He completed 35-of-102 passes for 348 yards and three touchdowns. Tonyan connected on a 57-yard touchdown pass in his debut at Indiana.
Tonyan successfully made the conversion to wide receiver from quarterback and played in 13 games in his junior season. He ranked 10th in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 4.2 catches per game. Tonyan hauled in 54 receptions for 747 yards, including a long of 54 yards in the regular-season finale at Western Illinois. He scored four touchdowns with one each against Liberty, Southern Illinois, Missouri State and in the FCS Playoffs at Eastern Kentucky. Tonyan had a season-best eight receptions on two occasions against Liberty and against Western Illinois. His career-high of 172 receiving yards came at Western Illinois which ranks as the seventh-highest in a single game in program history.
Tonyan was an honorable mention All-MVFC and an Honorable Mention MVFC Scholar-Athlete his senior year. He played in all 11 games, started in six. Tonyan led ISU in receiving with 601 yards (54.6 YPG) and six TDs on 40 receptions. His 601 yards rank 14th all-time for a single-season in ISU history.
Tonyan was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Detroit Lions on May 12, 2017. He spent the final four weeks of the 2017 season on Green Bay’s practice squad. He was re-signed by the Packers on Jan. 2, 2018. Tonyan joined the Chicago Bears in 2023.
The Packers placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on Tonyan on March 17, 2021.
On March 16, 2023, Tonyan signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears.
