| No. 91, 66 | |||||||
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| Position | Defensive end | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | (1983-08-20)August 20, 1983 (age 42) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | ||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||
| Weight | 295 lb (134 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school | Hazelwood East(St. Louis) | ||||||
| College | Lindenwood | ||||||
| NFL draft | 2008: undrafted | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Brian Schaefering (born August 20, 1983) is an American former professionalfootball player who was adefensive end in theNational Football League (NFL) for theCleveland Browns andDallas Cowboys. He playedcollege football for theIllinois Fighting Illini andLindenwood Lions.
Schaefering earned three footballvarsity letters atHazelwood East High School in St. Louis and was also First-team All-State, two-time First-team All-Suburban North and first-team North District selection and Two-time All-Conference selection.
He had sevenquarterback sacks, 130tackles and twointerceptions as a senior. He posted 60 tackles and sixblocked punts as a junior and served as the team'spunter. He also earned letters intrack.
Schaefering started hiscollege football career with theIllinois Fighting Illini. In 2001, he played the final nine games of the season along thedefensive line as atrue freshman and finished the season with eight tackles and one sack.
In 2002, he played in all 12 games, earning two starts and finished the season with a team third best of four sacks and a team fifth best with fivetackles-for-loss (TFL). He registered 34 tackles on the season. During the 2003 season, he took amedical redshirted due to a shoulder injury. He appeared in 8 games for Illinois in 2004 totaling 19 tackles, one sack and two forcedfumbles.[1]
He did not play in 2005 and 2006 while sitting out during his school transfer. Schaefering played atLindenwood University inSt. Charles, Missouri for his senior year in 2007, after transferring from the Fighting Illini. He led the team with 7.5 sacks and also recorded 37 tackles, including 19 solo tackles, 9.5 TFL, one recovered fumble and one blockedkick during 2007,[1] while helping Lindenwood to theNAIA National Football Championship series.
Schaefering was 6-4¾ and weighed 286 when measured at hisNFL Pro Day workout and ran a 4.85 forty-yard dash and did 18 reps of 225 pounds, and a 34½ vertical jump.[2]
He was signed by theCleveland Browns as anundrafted free agent on May 1, 2008. He waswaived on August 26. Schaefering was signed by theNew York Jets on December 18, 2008. He was waived on December 29 before being re-signed to afutures contract on January 1, 2009. He was waived again on June 9.
Schaefering was re-signed by theCleveland Browns on August 25, 2009, afterwide receiver and former Jets teammatePaul Raymond was waived.[1] Schaefering was promoted to the active roster on December 2, whenShaun Rogers was put on theinjured reserve list.[3] Schaefering finished the2009regular season with 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks.[4] He was cut on September 1, 2012. He finished his Browns career after appearing in 37 games, while posting 72 tackles and 2 sacks from hisnose tackle position.[5]
On December 12, 2012, he was signed by theDallas Cowboys, reuniting with defensive coordinatorRob Ryan who held the same position when Schaefering was with theCleveland Browns. He was signed to replaceJosh Brent, who left the team to focus on the charges he was facing for the death ofJerry Brown.[6] Schaefering was not re-signed after the season.
After football, he was diagnosed withtraumatic brain injury (TBI) and the possibility of also havingchronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).[7]