Laurinaitis returns to Ohio State
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- January
- 17
The draft picture, while still muddled, was clarified somewhat by the college underclassmen announcing on Jan. 15 whether they were entering or staying in school. One kid whose decision affects the Jets is James Laurinaitis, Ohio State’s All-America linebacker. He was one of the names to pop up most often on mock drafts in the Jets No. 6 draft spot. With an great blend of size (6-3, 240) and speed he would have been the first linebacker chosen and could have allowed Jonathan Vilma to be traded for more picks. You may remember him from the national championship game, where his 18 tackles were one of the few Buckeye bright spots. Now that he’s returning to school for his senior season the Jets will probably shy away from taking a linebacker.
Defensive end is becoming a more likely scenario. If Chris Long isn’t taken by St. Louis at No. 2 he could fall to No. 6, where you better believe the Jets will take a long look. Laurinaitis teammate Vernon Gholston is also a possibility. He’s got good speed as an edge rusher but is considered a bit of a reach at No. 6.
Of course everything depends on what the top five teams do. About the only things the experts agree on is Glenn Dorsey going No. 1 to Miami and Matt Ryan going to Atlanta. Offensive tackle Jake Long is expected to go early, but if he’s there when the Jets pick they could scrap the defensive plan altogether.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm by Jake Thomases.
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Jane McManus 
The Jets should pick the best athletes regardless of position. Then trade if they need to. Dallas used this technique when it built its super bowl teams.
I don’t mean to be rude, but do you even watch any of these guys play? Becuase mentioning that he had 18 tackles does absolutely zero justice to how he played; he is basically like a bigger vilma. He uses his athleticism and range to make plays all over the field, but he CAN’T shed blockers just like vilma. The biggest knock on him coming into the national championship was he couldn’t shed blockers and gets taken out of the play when the team runs right at him and he did absolutely nothing to dispell that rumor.
Now, i love the vernon gholston pick because he reminds me so much of merriman and a pass rushing OLB is a key cog in a 34 defense; it’s importance is right up there next to NT.
I watched all of BC’s games this year, if we can, we need to get Matt Ryan. He’s gonna be legendary for a long time.
sure.. maybe in round two,....
To take a chance with a number 6 pick on Mat Ryan when right now Pennington is still a member of this team and trying to bring along Klemens as a starter would be a blunder the size of picking Blair Thomas,i think everything depends on what happens with free agency as to how the draft will run if they can pick up Alan Fanca perhaps to sure up the o-line and have a veteran presence to help Mangold along with his protection calls, which i feel was a major problem this season, going defense first makes sense if not, the o-line i feel must be addressed first,without lanes to run into or time to throw,it really is not going to matter who is at qb or rb