Background and career
Marcus LaVar Stroud (born June 25, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 13th overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft. He was a member of the NFL's Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots.
Stroud won a state title with Brooks County High School in 1994. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1996 while still in high school which featured a cover story of National Signing Day. Stroud, at the time a 6'6" 266-pound defensive end, originally gave Florida a verbal commitment but changed his mind after Bulldogs coach Ray Goff was fired in November 1995. After heavy pursuit from new Georgia coach Jim Donnan, Stroud switched and committed to the Bulldogs on Signing Day.
Stroud attended the University of Georgia, where he played for the Georgia Bulldogs football team. He played for Georgia during a major re-building era, in which coach Jim Donnan turned the program around from among the mediocre to averaging 8 wins per year, including four straight bowl game victories. He was initiated as a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity while he was an undergraduate.
Stroud was selected in the first round with the 13th overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft by the Jaguars. The 2001 NFL Draft is considered by many experts to be the finest draft for defensive tackles in draft history, and Stroud was among the highest rated of the group that year. The 2001 class included fellow Pro Bowl selections Richard Seymour, Casey Hampton and Kris Jenkins. He and John Henderson helped give the Jaguars one of the more dominant defensive tackles duos in the NFL. During his Jacksonville days, Stroud had 22 sacks and 256 tackles while appearing in 100 games. Stroud also played in every Jaguars game for the first 5 years of his career. Marcus Stroud was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 2003, 2004 and 2005 NFL seasons. Stroud was suspended in 2007 for four games without pay for violating the league's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.
On March 1, 2008, Stroud was traded to the Buffalo Bills for third (previously acquired from the Baltimore Ravens in the Willis McGahee trade)- and fifth-round picks in the 2008 NFL draft. Stroud was immediately deemed one of the key players to the Bills' 2008 season. Buffalo ranked 31st in total defense the year prior, and vaulted up to 14th in 2008, Stroud's first season there. The Bills got off to a strong start that year, going 5–1 in the first six games. They fell off towards the mid-season mark, however, and finished the year with a 7–9 record. On April 7, 2009, Stroud signed a two-year contract extension that paid $16 million and guaranteed $12 million. In combination with the existing terms of his contract, Stroud could've earned an additional $28 million over the following four seasons. Stroud was released on February 16, 2011.
On March 1, 2011, the New England Patriots signed defensive lineman Stroud to a two-year contract. He was released just under 5 months later on July 28.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
