Jay Robert Leeuwenburg (born June 18, 1969) 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 in 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 ...

for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, and 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 ...

. He played college football at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

and was drafted in the ninth round of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 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 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott ...

. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri. At age twelve, Leeuwenberg was diagnosed with

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar ...

. Leeuwenburg coauthored the book ''Yes I Can! Yes You Can!'' with Denny Dressman, an autobiography that focuses on his struggles with diabetes and his journey to the NFL. Leeuwenburg currently works as a college football analyst on The mtn television network, of the NCAA Mountain West Conference. He is also an elementary school teacher at Colorado Academy, a high-achieving private K-12 school in Denver. He is a coach at D evelyn high school

References

1969 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive linemen Chicago Bears players Cincinnati Bengals players Colorado Buffaloes football players Indianapolis Colts players People with type 1 diabetes Players of American football from St. Louis Washington Redskins players {{collegefootball-player-stub