For Fred Strickland, an All-Big Ten linebacker from Purdue who led the conference in tackles as a senior, the 1988 NFL Draft was a day of waiting and saying, 'Who?'
His agent thought he'd be chosen in the first round by Cleveland. But when the Browns opted to go in a different direction, the opening round closed with Strickland still on the board.
"Then the next thing you know the Rams were up, and all sudden the guy hands me the phone," he said. "'Oh, yeah, John Robinson wants to talk to you.' I said, 'Alright. Who the heck is that?' And he came on and said, 'Fred, this is John Robinson, the head coach of the Rams. We're going to take you in the second round.' 'Oh, okay. Sure. Great.' I had no idea."
After joining the team in Los Angeles, waiting and who, took a backseat to what?
"(Fourth-year veteran linebacker) Kevin Greene helped me out and showed me the ropes right away. Him and (13th-year veteran linebacker) Carl Ekern," Strickland said. "And (defensive coordinator) Fritz Shurmur, with his creative mind, he decided to make me into who knows what it was. I was an outside linebacker, then I ended up being an inside linebacker, and then he made me a nosebacker.
"Oh, man, that's what put me on the map. I was a linebacker, but I would actually get down in a three-point-stand right over the center. And depending on whatever the call was on the defensive side, I could either drop back into pass coverage or I could rush the passer. At that point in time, I would do anything because I got to play."
The only linebacker – or nosebacker – chosen by the Rams with one of their 14 picks, Strickland played a key role on special teams and as a backup during his rookie season.
He recorded what would be a career-high four sacks, 43 total tackles, a fumble recovery, and three pass breakups. Two of his sacks came in the regular-season finale against the division-rival 49ers.
"In the game against San Francisco, I actually have a picture where I sacked Joe Montana," Strickland said. "My college roommates, they were from California and had connections, and they ended up getting copies of the picture, the front and the back at the same time, and blew it up to a poster size picture for me.
"That picture just dominated and gave me a huge highlight, because it was in the L.A. Times newspaper on the front and the back of the paper's sports pages. And it said, 'Fred Strickland sacking Joe Montana to help Rams get into the playoffs.'
"The picture was great because it was the front of him all like cockeyed, and I was standing over the top of him with my hands up in the air like Rocky."
Almost before you could say, 'Yo, Adrian,' Strickland matched that accomplishment in the 1988 NFC Wild Card playoff game in Minnesota when he sacked Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson twice in the 28-17 loss.
Strickland, however, sacked himself the following training camp when he tore the cartilage in his right knee and had to have arthroscopic surgery. But then after missing the entire preseason schedule and the season-opener in Atlanta, he stepped into the starting lineup at middle linebacker.
A quick healer, hard worker, or both?
"I'd say that I just wanted to get back on the field and start playing again. Because you'd hear as soon as you get hurt, that's it. They'll forget about you. Those are the rumors that you heard," Strickland said.
"And Fritz was an old-school, hard-ass coach. If you weren't playing and producing for him, he didn't know who you were. 'If you're hurt, you aren't helping me out at all.' And so I was like, 'Hey, let me get back out on the field as soon as possible.'"
Moving onto 1990, his third season, Strickland was still on the field, but unfortunately, not as long as he would have liked. After starting the first five games, he suffered a broken left leg and spent the rest of the year on injured reserve. It was a painful yet eye-opening experience which frankly, ticked him off.
"When I broke my leg, that was just like a dirty, cheap shot from one of the Chicago Bears' offensive line. I didn't even know it was broken that bad that I had to have surgery," Strickland said. "And I just got to a point where I was like, 'You know what? I'm not going to take this s _ _ t no more. I'm going to start going after other people who've been going after me.' I just got the attitude that I'm going to be a tougher hard-ass.
"And Kevin, we used to work out all the time, and he put that mentality into my head. 'Hey, you're supposed to be a middle linebacker. They're supposed to be scared of you.' And so I just decided I'm going to play at that level and said 'This is what I'm going to do from now on.'"
"Now on" lasted seven more seasons. After playing with Los Angeles for five years, Strickland spent one with Minnesota, two with Green Bay, three with Dallas, and one with Washington. What makes him most proud of his 12-year, 161-game career?
"Honestly, it's that I lasted so long. Even though it was sporadic at times," Strickland said. "And (CBS Sports' game analyst) John Madden, he gave me the name, nosebacker. He did this interview and said, 'Yeah, Fritz Shurmur's got this defense with like nine linebackers playing defensive line. And then they've got this guy Strickland, the nosebacker.'
"When I went back home after the season, 'Dude! Madden was talking about you. He was bragging about you. You're a nosebacker.' And I was like, 'What the hell's that?' And they said, 'That's the name that Madden gave you.' So to have a legend like John Madden talking about you and giving you a name, it was unbelievable."
Now making their home in Indiana, Strickland and his wife, Shay, have two daughters. Alexas, who is married and lives in Georgia. And Aliyah, who is a freshman at High Point (NC) University, where's she's a member of the crew team.
He's currently in the process of discovering what's next.
"Right now, I'm just retired and I'm trying to actually start a new career," Strickland said. "I have no idea what I'm even looking for, really. I was in sales for 15 years and just decided it was a little too hectic, and I wanted to get out of that business. So I'm just checking out different things."
