Ethan Brooks Ethan Barbier Brooks ( born April 27 , 1972 in Hartford , Connecticut ) is a former American football offensive tackle in the NFL who played for five different teams in a nine - year career . He played defensive tackle for Division III Williams College , where he was a two - time all - conference player and NESCAC defensive player of the year as a senior . Brooks grew up in Simsbury , Connecticut . He attended Westminster a small prep school in Simsbury with a poor football record while he was there . He was not noticed by Division I - A schools . He had opportunities to play with a scholarship at Division I - AA schools . His father Alan had gone to Wesleyan and was good enough to be invited to the Baltimore Colts training camp . When Ethan graduated , Williams had a better football team than Wesleyan and the other school of the " Little Three " , Amherst , good enough to be a Division 3 " power " . His father encouraged Ethan to go there for both football and academics . Ethan Brooks had NFL aspirations even then and thought Division 3 ball would not be the best route to the NFL . He wanted to go to Bucknell which had a superior football program as a Division I - AA but was still a good academic school . However , he did not think he would be accepted at Williams . Although his academics were good for a football player they were low for Williams . Nevertheless , after consulting his father and friends , he went to Williams , where he stood out in the division for his size and skill . He played on very good teams as a defensive tackle and was spotted by NFL scouts . He was also an All - American in track and field in the hammer throw . His major was psychology . He was drafted in the 1996 7th round by Atlanta , coached by June Jones , as the 229th overall pick . He began as an offensive tackle but was moved back to defense due to team injuries and then placed back on the offensive line . When Dan Reeves replaced Jones , Brooks was sent to NFL Europe and made All NFL Europe first team as a right tackle with Rhein Fire , going with them to the World Bowl in June . However he missed the Falcon minicamps . He was not able to learn the new offense and was placed back on defense , where he was needed . He made it to opening day but was cut almost immediately and quickly picked up by the St Louis Rams where he was signed for two seasons , playing backup swing offensive tackle and on special teams in 1998 . He was ready to become a starting right OT at the beginning of the 1999 season . He met his wife Jaqueline Smith on a blind date during his first year in Atlanta . They were married in less than a year in the Spring of 1997 . In the Fall of 1999 Jackie was diagnosed with nonHodgkins Lymphoma . Brooks put football on the back burner while he stayed with his wife who was having chemotherapy . He also was struggling with a back injury . He was released by the Rams and turned down offers from the Saints , Cowboys , Cardinals , and Jaguars . When the doctors pronounced Jackie in remission , he accepted an offer from the Arizona Cardinals for the 2000 season . He made the team . Jackie joined him but she was already ill with a fatal recurrence and died in March 2001 . Brooks did not tell many people about the situation and was released after the end of the season . In 2001 he was a " camp body " for Denver and cut after the third exhibition game having had almost no playing time . He went back to Atlanta and then home to Connecticut . A year after Jackie ' s death he was ready to start training again . His trainer , Charles Poliquin was headed to Arizona and Brooks followed him and worked hard to get himself in great shape . The Ravens signed him in 2003 where he played on the offensive line as swing backup , behind All - Pro left offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden , and then starting right tackle . In 2003 he got a signing bonus and a 2 year contract . Orlando Brown returned to Ravens football in 2003 having recovered from a freakish eye injury as the starting right OT and Brooks went back to being a swing backup OT for Brown and Ogden . He started 23 games in 3 years with the Ravens . After 2005 Brooks was released by the Ravens and signed with the New York Jets . They released him at the end of training camp . The Dallas Cowboys called him six weeks into the season . He played left tackle under Bill Parcells replacing injured Flozell Adams . He was released just over a month later to make room for tackle Marcus Price , which ended his NFL career . He is now weights coach at Pomfret School as of September 2009 .