The 5-10, 185-pound Strickland played in 11 games with two starts for the Jets in 2009, including a reserve role in New York’s Divisional Playoff win in San Diego. He finished the year with 25 tackles, two sacks, four passes defensed and three tackles for loss. He also contributed nine tackles on special teams. Strickland saw action off the bench in the Chargers’ playoff game against the Jets, collecting three tackles and a pass defensed.
Strickland will be 29 years old at the start of the 2010 season. He came to the NFL in 2003 as a third-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts and spent two and a half seasons in Indianapolis before being waived midway through the 2005 season. He would later sign with Philadelphia for the remainder of the ’05 season before spending the 2006-08 seasons in San Francisco.
His regular-season career totals include 58 games played, 24 starts, 185 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, 20 passes defensed and 38 tackles on special teams. Strickland has also played in five career postseason games, racking up 21 tackles and seven passes defensed.
A native of San Francisco, Strickland prepped at Archbishop Riordan High School before an All-Big-12 career at the University of Colorado. His uncle, Raymond Bell, played at UCLA and his cousin, Herb Ward, played at Southern California and in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. Strickland’s father, Donald, is a retired photographer for the NBC affiliate, KNTV-11 in the Bay Area.
