St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis not distracted by contract, focused on output – NFL News
After giving a long-term four-year deal to their defensive end Chris Long, St. Louis Rams have now shifted their attention towards locking up their quality linebacker James Laurinaitis.
Yet Laurinaitis himself is focused on giving better performance in the upcoming season. He has left all the deal talks to his agent. He said:
"The last time I talked to Tom Condon it was 'Hey, good luck in camp, just go out there and do what you do. I've got enough to worry about without making a mental error. That stuff will take care of itself."
Laurinaitis gave an astounding performance in the defence last season. He got 13 sacks, the highest in the season by any Rams player.
Laurinaitis is into final year of his four-year, $5.1 million rookie contract. He has been continuously getting more than 100 tackles per season throughout his career.
Deal talks have been going on between Laurinaitis and Rams for the last few weeks.
He was drafted by Rams in the second round (35th overall pick) of the 2009 draft. Rams new head coach Jeff Fisher recently praised Laurinaitis’s attitude towards the game and said:
"He's the kind of guy you want at the middle linebacker position. He's dedicated, he's intelligent and he's very committed. Football is important to him and he wants to learn."
Laurinaitis has reduced his weight to play a better role in the pass defence. He is now 242 pounds, but has a good fat percentage to keep himself strong.
Rams’ training started on Monday, July 30, 2012. More than 1,500 fans attended the Day 1 proceedings.
Training camp will be in full swing in coming days and Fisher is hoping his roster will get much strong as they go through the camp days. He said:
"This team's going to be consistent with that. They know better than to pace themselves because as we say we don't have a lot of reps to go around."
Rams finished with a dismal 2-14 last season after which owner Stan Kroenke completely changed the management and coaching regime and the team is entering the season as a new unit.
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