Plain and simple, there might not be a football player I've covered whom I respect more than Zach Strief.
Strief ended his football career Monday (March 12) by officially announcing his retirement after 12 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. It's easy to see how well-respected Strief was with his teammates. Drew Brees, Mark Ingram, Cam Jordan, Thomas Morstead and several others attended Strief's farewell press conference.
Strief even brought Brees to tears.
I'm not sure anyone would have imagined Strief becoming the longest-tenured player from the Saints' historic 2006 NFL Draft class. It's probably a safe assumption that Strief would say the same thing.