*Here’s why James Laurinaitis will be a very good middle linebacker in the NFL: He will never stop trying to get better.
What Laurinaitis did last summer was outstanding. Knowing the rule that applies to Ohio State players and when they can report to an NFL team, Laurinaitis took 12 hours of classes in the summer of 2008, so he would be finished before the school’s final semester. That allowed him to report to the Rams in mid-May, rather than mid-June.
"My head would be swimming,” he said. “I can’t imagine how far behind I would be if I wasn't able to graduate early and start here early. There's no way that I'd know this defense well enough right now to be in this position."
Two weeks ago, I did a show for Sirius NFL Radio from Rams Park, and when Laurinaitis came to our broadcast location one hour after practice ended, he had his playbook with him.
*The unusual contract signed by sixth-round pick Keith Null seems to indicate he is expected to win the third quarterback job from Brock Berlin.
The 196th overall selection, Null’s signing bonus should have been around $98,000 considering the player in front of him (Cleveland running back James Davis) got $99,250 and the player behind him (Dallas linebacker Stephen Hodge) received $97,000.
However, Null did not receive a signing bonus, but he does have more guaranteed money in his deal than the slot.
Null’s contract includes a $27,500 bonus for making the roster, and a portion of his first-year minimum salary of $310,000 is guaranteed. There is a $27,000 base guarantee and he received a $76,000 salary advance, of which about $60,000 is believed to be guaranteed.
It is unlikely he would have agreed to the deal unless he was somewhat assured of being on the roster.
*Coach Steve Spagnuolo remains hopeful that defensive tackle Hollis Thomas will progress enough to earn a roster spot and contribute in the tackle rotation. Entering what would be his 14th season, Thomas was signed a day before camp opened, and wasn’t in the best of shape.
Said Spagnuolo, "He's coming around. We need to knock his weight down a little bit. Him and I have talked. He's working hard at it. I do think he is still a little rusty. I know he's not the player that (he was) when we were together back in Philadelphia, but I still think he's a good football player, and I think he'll get there."
*The Rams had a relatively clean game against the Jets with no turnovers and only five penalties. Asked if he was pleased with having “only” five penalties and no turnovers, Spagnuolo said, “You say only five. I am saying I can’t believe we had those five. No, that is a good assessment and you are right. The real encouraging thing was the no turnovers and the No. 1 stat in the NFL that relates directly to winning and losing is the turnover ratio. If we can keep doing that, that will be a good thing.”
*Coordinators Pat Shurmur (offense) and Ken Flajole (defense) were both on the sideline instead of the press box.
“I think that’s really their call,” Spagnuolo said. “We talked about that way back in the spring on where they would be most comfortable and both of them want to be on the field. I know that’s where I always wanted to be as a coordinator. I think the interaction with the players when you’re trying to make corrections or adjustments, I think that’s important.”
Asked about his role, especially with first-time coordinators, Spagnuolo said, “I was on the headset with them, and there was a free-flow of interaction but I did want … I am going to try not to step on toes. You hire people to do their jobs and I thought they both did a good job of it. It was good to have a first game, a first run-through. We’re going to do something similar to that in practice this week – we’ll call it a fourth quarter drill. We have to do more and more of that so everybody gets comfortable with that – substitutions, coaches making calls, and I just chime in where I see needed. But I think they handled it pretty good.”
*For the first time, Spagnuolo acknowledged that when fullback Mike Karney was originally injured Aug. 3, it was believed to be a two- or three-week injury, even though he did participate in some limited practice work last week. Asked if Karney experienced any setbacks in practice, Spagnuolo said, “I wouldn’t say set back. I think with those kind of injuries, you feel good one day and you push it a little bit, and you wake up the next day and it’s a little sore. I think that’s natural. I think we thought in that two- or three-week time span, and we’re right about 12 days right now, so we’ll take it day by day.”
*Good news for Mizzou’s Stryker Sulak, who signed with the Packers late last week. He’ll compete at linebacker in Green Bay’s 3-4 defense, but it will be tough coming to them so late.
Sulak was drafted by Oakland in the sixth round as a defensive end, went through minicamps and OTAs, and was inexplicably placed on waivers July 13 without having signed a contract. That cost him about $95,000 in a signing bonus.
Worse, agent Bob Lattinville found out Sulak had been released when someone from another team phoned him. To this day, no one from the Raiders has contacted them to explain the reasoning behind the decision. Sulak signed three, one-year contracts at the league minimum and received no bonus. He would have been better off not being drafted.
THE QUOTE
Center Jason Brown on running back Steven Jackson: "I've had the privilege of playing with Jamal Lewis, Willis McGahee and a fullback, Le’Ron McClain, last year. Even after all those years, our offensive line when we were in Baltimore, whenever we would see St. Louis Rams film and we would see Steven running the ball, our jaws would drop and we would say, 'Oh my God.' Not to take anything away from the running backs that we had at the time, but we would drop our jaws in awe saying, 'I just wonder what it would be like if we could interchange and have him just for one Sunday.' But now, I'm privileged and I'm blessed enough to have him every Sunday."
Still, Jackson simply has to get better at picking up blitzes.