Lennie Friedman

Leonard Lebrecht Friedman is a Jewish American former professional football player.

Friedman (born October 13, 1976) was born in Livingston, New Jersey, and played football in high school. He attended Duke University, earning a degree in psychology while also being a three-year starter on the football team and winning first team All-ACC honors his senior year.

Friedman was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round (61st overall) in the 1999 NFL Draft. He saw no action in his rookie season as he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament during pre-season.

He was allocated to NFL Europe where he played for the Barcelona Dragons. He returned to training camp and during the season played in all 16 games including eight starts. He made his first NFL start at the Cincinnati Bengals on October 22, 2000.

During the 2001 season Friedman played in 15 games and made 14 starts at the left guard position. He only featured in two games for the Broncos in 2002. He signed for the Washington Redskins as an unrestricted free agent on March 5, 2003. He played in all 16 regular season games and made eight starts. He made his first career start at centre versus the Seattle Seahawks on November 9, 2003. He played in five games for the Redskins in 2004 and made two starts. He played in the opening ten games for the Redskins, but was waived on November 23, 2005. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as a free agent on November 29 and played in one game at the Minnesota Vikings on January 1, 2006. Friedman was traded by the Bears to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a conditional draft choice on August 24, 2006. He played in all 16 games and made two starts. He played a number of positions including guard and centre as well as making contributions to special teams. Just as he did in the previous season, Friedman played in all 16 games for the Browns in 2007.

He and his wife, Katie, have two children and make their offseason home in North Carolina. In 2004, he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

Sources: Wikipedia