High school and college career

A native of the Cincinnati suburb of Milford, Strief attended Milford High School and earned All-Midwest Region honors with the Eagles football team. Besides football he also earned varsity letters in basketball and track and field. He was also an honor student. In January 2009 Milford High announced to it would retire Strief's number 63 jersey (which he also wore in college), only the second jersey to be retired by Milford.

Strief attended Northwestern University in Chicago and redshirted his first year. By his junior season he became starting right tackle for Wildcats and started in 40 straight games under Mike Dunbar, who was the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. He earned consensus Second-team All-Big Ten honors twice and was named an All-American by the FWAA during his senior season, becoming the Wildcats' first offensive lineman to win national recognition since Chris Hinton. NFLDraftScout.com described him as a " He graduated with a degree in communication studies and sociology in 2005.

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

He was drafted by the Saints in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft. After backing up Jon Stinchcomb for five years, in the 2011 season he became the team's starting right tackle with Stinchcomb's retirement and part of the Saints' offensive line that won the Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award as the best offensive line in the NFL. (He also shared in the same award as a backup in 2009.)

Strief re-signed with the Saints on a five year extension during free agency in 2014. This is the second time he has been resigned in free agency.

Strief was elected as the Saints' representative to the National Football League Players Association Board of Player Representatives for the 2014 season. He has also served as an offensive team captain since the 2012 season.

Personal life

Strief was previously married to former Saintsation Mandy Schexnaydre.

Since moving to New Orleans, Strief has set up a foundation which organizes youth camps and aids Milford student-athletes. In 2009 he produced a cookbook for charity entitled "When You're the Biggest Guy on the Team!

[ Source: Wikipedia ]