Ryan Edwin Diem (born July 1, 1979) 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 wi ...

offensive lineman who played his entire 11-year professional career for the Indianapolis Colts of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Diem was born in

Roselle, Illinois Roselle is a suburb of Chicago and is a village located in both DuPage County and Cook in Illinois. Roselle was first incorporated in 1922 as a bedroom community, with its train stop attracting residents commuting to Chicago or nearby suburbs for t ...

, played college football at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, and was drafted by the Colts in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. Diem played for the Colts from 2001 to 2011 and was part of the Super Bowl XLI championship team that beat the Chicago Bears.

Early life and college

Born in

, Diem graduated from

Glenbard North High School Glenbard North High School, or GBN, and locally referred to as "Glenbard" or "North", is a public closed campus four-year high school located at the corner of Kuhn Road and Lies Road in Carol Stream, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, ...

of nearby Carol Stream in 1997. Diem played defensive lineman in high school football and played on the high school

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

team. An all-state selection in track, Diem set state records in both indoor and outdoor shot put as a senior. At

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

, Diem played for the Huskies football team for four seasons from 1997 to 2000 and majored in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

. As a freshman in 1997, Diem started seven games as

right tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, ...

. In his sophomore season of 1998, Diem returned as right tackle and earned second-team All- MAC honors. Diem earned first-team All-MAC honors in both 1999 and 2000, Honorable Mention Academic All-MAC in 1998, and Academic All-MAC honors in 1999.

Professional career

Based on Diem's combine workout results alone, ''

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinoi ...

'' predicted that Diem would be a first-round draft pick but considered him "an average athlete with limitations." Diem was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played his entire career for the team, starting 150 of 158 games at offensive tackle and

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

from 2001 to 2011. He was a member of the Colts Super Bowl XLI victory over the Chicago Bears. He retired on March 23, 2012.

Personal life

Diem married Julie Constein, also from Carol Stream, Illinois, in 2003. They have three children and live in

Zionsville, Indiana Zionsville is a suburban town located in the extreme southeast area of Boone County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. The population was 14,160 at the 2010 census, 30,693 at the 2020 census, and grew to 33,891 in the 2022 est ...

. Diem is also a co-owner of Modern Muscle, Inc., in Oswego, Illinois. Modern Muscle specialized in performance automotive applications, and restorations. Diem is a member of the board of directors of ClearObject (formerly CloudOne) – a Fishers, Indiana based provider of Internet of Things solutions.

References

External links

Indianapolis Colts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diem, Ryan 1979 births Living people People from Roselle, Illinois People from Zionsville, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana Players of American football from Illinois American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Northern Illinois Huskies football players Indianapolis Colts players