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Rien Vartan Long (born August 7, 1981 in Los Angeles, California) was a American football defensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL. He is one fourth Armenian descent and cherishes his heritage greatly. He has a tattoo of the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet (Է) over the Armenian flag on his biceps. While playing for Washington State University in 2002, he won the Outland Trophy as that year's best college football interior lineman. He is the brother of Devan Long. Rien Long's trip to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in March 2006 to visit his roots, was the subject of a feature-length documentary, "The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia."
Life-threatening car crash
Just before midnight on January 21, 2008, Long crashed his 2005 Ford Mustang into a rockwall while driving too fast on an I-40 on-ramp near downtown Nashville. Long was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was in critical condition. On January 23, doctors upgraded Long's condition from critical to stable.
Devan Long
Devan is an alumus of Anacortes High School (100 miles north of Seattle), where he was first-team All-Northwest League. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Oregon, with a degree in Political Science. In college, as an Oregon Duck, he was a 3-time All-Pac-10 honorable mention, set the school record with 48 tackles for a loss, and is OU's third all-time sack leader (24.5).
His professional football career is just starting:
1. He signed with the Carolina Panthers, of the NFL, on May 5, 2006
2. He was placed on the Injured Reserve List on August 29, 2006 by Carolina for a groin injury... ultimately leaving the team.
3. Devan was chosen by the Cologne Centurions of "NFL Europe" in the seventh round of the 2007 Free Agent Draft
His name was inspired by Lake Van.
Life-threatening car crash
Just before midnight on January 21, 2008, Long crashed his 2005 Ford Mustang into a rockwall while driving too fast on an I-40 on-ramp near downtown Nashville. Long was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was in critical condition. On January 23, doctors upgraded Long's condition from critical to stable.
Devan Long
Devan is an alumus of Anacortes High School (100 miles north of Seattle), where he was first-team All-Northwest League. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Oregon, with a degree in Political Science. In college, as an Oregon Duck, he was a 3-time All-Pac-10 honorable mention, set the school record with 48 tackles for a loss, and is OU's third all-time sack leader (24.5).
His professional football career is just starting:
1. He signed with the Carolina Panthers, of the NFL, on May 5, 2006
2. He was placed on the Injured Reserve List on August 29, 2006 by Carolina for a groin injury... ultimately leaving the team.
3. Devan was chosen by the Cologne Centurions of "NFL Europe" in the seventh round of the 2007 Free Agent Draft
His name was inspired by Lake Van.