Jared Veldheer

Jared Veldheer (born June 14, 1987) is an American football offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft, after playing college football at Hillsdale.

Early life and college
Veldheer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Jim and Mary Veldheer. He has two siblings, one older brother (Aaron Veldheer) and a younger sister (Meghan Veldheer). Jared graduated from Forest Hills Northern High School in 2005. In high school, Veldheer was named Most Valuable Lineman and played two years of varsity basketball, and his high school football coach Brent Myers graduated from Hillsdale College, the NCAA Division II college that Veldheer would attend. In 2008, Veldheer was co-captain of the Hillsdale Chargers football team. After the 2009 season, the American Football Coaches Association named him First-Team All-American. Veldheer is an alumnus of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity.

Oakland Raiders
Veldheer was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the third round (69th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. At the conclusion of the 2010 preseason, he was named Oakland's starting center, beating out veteran Samson Satele. However, after the first game, Veldheer was moved back to offensive tackle, replaced at center by Satele for the rest of the season, and began sharing time with veteran Mario Henderson. By midseason, Veldheer had supplanted Henderson to become the Raiders' full-time starting left tackle. On opening day of the 2011 NFL season, he started at left tackle next to rookie Stefen Wisniewski and the offensive line cleared the way for 190 rushing yards and a victory over the Denver Broncos. In Week 11 of the 2011 NFL season, playing against Minnesota Vikings he prevented Jared Allen, who had a league-leading total of 13.5 sacks coming into the game, from having a sack, although Veldheer was flagged once during the game for a holding penalty when Allen had the corner.