Leonard Lebrecht Friedman (born October 13, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. He was drafted by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in the second round of the

1999 NFL Draft The 1999 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 17–18, 1999, at the Theater at M ...

. Friedman has also played for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Early and personal years

Friedman was born in

Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the ...

, to Mike and Sandi Friedman, and is Jewish. He attended

West Milford High School West Milford High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from West Mil ...

West Milford, New Jersey West Milford is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 25,850, reflecting a decline of 560 (−2.1%) from the 26,410 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in ...

, where he played football and was also co-captain on a track and field team that went undefeated all four years. "Hometown: Livingston, NJ...Friedman was a

Super Prep ''Super Prep'' is a sports magazine based in Laguna Beach, California, published in since 1985. It was founded and is published by Allen Wallace, a lawyer. Its main focus is to provide recruiting information on high school football players. In 19 ...

Top 17 and All-New Jersey pick at West Milford (N.J.) High School. He started three years on both sides of the ball, winning all-conference honors as a junior defensive tackle—setting a school record with 111 tackles—and as a senior offensive tackle." In high school, he also played in the Maccabi Youth Games. He and his wife, Katie, have three children and make their off-season home in North Carolina.

College career

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, Friedman was a three-year starter at left guard, and as a senior, he won first-team All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

honors from the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. He earned a degree in psychology.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

He was selected by the

in the second round (61st overall) in the

. 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 NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

where he played for the

Barcelona Dragons Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Barcelona Dragons: * Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2003; * Barcelona Dragons (ELF) The Barcelona Dragons are an American football team based in ...

. 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 The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

on October 22. During the 2001 season Friedman played in 15 games and made 14 starts at the left guard position. He only played in two games for the Broncos in 2002.

Washington Redskins

He signed for the

as an unrestricted free agent on March 5. He played in all 16 regular season games and made eight starts. He made his first career start at center versus the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

on November 9. He played in five games for the Redskins in 2004 and made two starts. Friedman played in the opening ten games for the Redskins, but was waived on November 23.

Chicago Bears

He was signed by the

as a free agent on November 29 and played in one game at the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

on January 1. Friedman was traded by the Bears to the

in exchange for a conditional draft choice on August 24, 2006.

Cleveland Browns

In 2006, Friedman played in all 16 games and made two starts. He played a number of positions including guard and center as well as making contributions to special teams. In 2007, Friedman played in all 16 games for the Browns; also used as an extra linemen in goal line packages.

Honors

In 2004, he was inducted into the

National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish figures who have distinguished themselves in sports. Its objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics, and to commemo ...

Post-NFL career

Friedman studied for and received an MBA from Duke University's

Fuqua School of Business The Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Duke Executive Education also offers non-degree business education and ...

after he concluded his professional football career.

References

External links

NFL.com profileCleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Lennie 1976 births Living people People from Livingston, New Jersey People from West Milford, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Jewish American sportspeople American football centers American football offensive guards Duke Blue Devils football players Denver Broncos players Barcelona Dragons players Washington Redskins players Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players Fuqua School of Business alumni 21st-century American Jews