Who Will Take James Laurinaitis in the 2009 NFL Draft?

James Laurinaitis was fortunate to come from an athletic family. His father was a professional wrestler and his younger sister was one of the best girl hockey players in their home state of Minnesota. James himself spent a lot of time playing hockey and it appeared he could have his choice of professional hockey or football. Fortunately to football fans, he decided to make football his professional career.

The years of playing hockey though was apparently very helpful in keeping him quick on the field. I guess since you have to make quick moves and change directions with ease in hockey, that could only help to improve your football game when it's time to make instinctive decisions on which direction to go for the best outcome. Early on he excelled in football being named Minnesota's Defensive Mr. Football as a senior in high school. He went on to win the Nagurski Award in 2006 as a sophomore at Ohio State, the Butkus Award and Bedinark Trophy in 2007 among other accolades.

He was recognized as one of the most proficient linebackers in college. He was also named the Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by Big Ten Media in 2007. He looked very promising to enter the draft in 2008, however his loyalty to the Buckeyes made it an easy decision to stay for his senior year. That was probably a smart move as he also picked up the Lott Trophy in his senior year. These are all things that the teams will be looking for in the 2009 NFL draft.

Laurinaitis, at 6'3" and 249lbs. will be a wanted commodity in this year's draft. He has the speed, the strength and the instincts to make him a good fit for any NFL defense so many teams may be looking at him. According to fftoolbox.com he is expected to go relatively early in the draft but will have competition from USC's Rey Maualuga for the top linebacker pick. One thing that could inhibit his spot is the fact that he didn't play in the Senior Bowl along with the other top linebackers who played and apparently played well. Unfortunately, he had decided to play relatively late and then ended up with the flu and could not play.

Some predictions of where he could end up appear to be possibly with the Giant's according to bigblueview.com, however walterfootball.com has now dropped him to a second round draft pick possibly with the Detroit Lions.

Sources: http://www.bigblueview.com/2009/2/13/756986/prospecting-james-laurinai; http://walterfootball.com/draft2009_2.php; http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/profile_display.cfm?Prospect_ID=1201