Laurinaitis Retires

People will see him again in the ring, maybe with the WWE, or something like that.

How good this guy was was always a subject of debate. I thought he was solid player. I think the Rams missed JL’s (and Long’s) leadership when they were released.

Knee issue hastened Laurinaitis’ retirement

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/thomas-knee-issue-hastened-laurinaitis-retirement/article_7db0fd88-91e0-5059-84c6-5898dbe72237.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The moment of truth for James Laurinaitis came in December when he had a workout for Kansas City.

With Derrick Johnson out for the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon and the Chiefs considering help at middle linebacker, it could have been a chance for Laurinaitis to finally play in his first NFL playoff game.

He felt good during the workout, headed to the airport, flew home, and just like that experienced swelling in his right knee. For a week.

“That was a 25-minute workout,” Laurinaitis recalled. “It was time.”

Time to call it a career. Oh, he still had the itch. When his former defensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams was hired in Cleveland — Gregg Williams — Laurinaitis thought about giving him a call.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was time to walk away from the game —while he still could walk relatively pain free.

“When you have daughters, you’ve got to think about walking them down the aisle in 25 years, man,” Laurinaitis said. “So I’ve gotta keep this body together somewhat.”

Originally, he wanted to announce his retirement in February, but agent Tom Condon told him to wait a while. Make sure.

Laurinaitis, 30, was sure. On Tuesday, with spring workouts starting all over the NFL, Laurinaitis announced his retirement on social media. He was finished playing a game he started playing at age 4, getting orange slices at halftime and Capri Sun juice drinks afterward.

“I told myself when I entered the league, I didn’t want to steal from the game,” Laurinaitis said.

Things finally reached the point where a deteriorating right knee would’ve made it stealing from the game in Laurinaitis’ mind.

He never talked about it while playing with the Rams in St. Louis, but in a Friday phone interview with the Post-Dispatch, Laurinaitis detailed a painful knee issue that first cropped up in 2014.

There was no specific play or incident that caused the knee problems, just wear and tear that led to continual soreness and swelling.

“That’s when I started getting gel injections to try to stop the deterioration of the knee,” he said. “Once you start to lose cartilage, or get a gap in your cartilage, there’s really no growing it back.”

Rams trainer Reggie Scott helped with exercises to try to keep the surrounding muscles strong. But there were lots of times that Laurinaitis needed to get the knee drained.

“And way too many CCs (of liquid) coming out of that thing,” he said.

No surgery was done because there was no surgery that could help. Laurinaitis couldn’t do his normal training during the offseason, and that contributed to his deteriorating play over the final part of his seven-year stay with the Rams.

“No matter how smart you are, it’s unrealistic to think that you can not train in the offseason like you want to and then expect to have results on Sunday,” he said. “And that’s kinda basically the tailspin I’ve been in since ’14.”

He was released by the Rams following the 2015 season and signed with New Orleans. But he suffered a quad injury in Game 3 of the 2016 season with the Saints and never played another down at middle linebacker. After missing some time, he played only special teams before being released.

The quad injury was in his right leg, and probably was a direct result of not being able to do the necessary offseason training because of the right knee issue.

It hurts to walk down the stairs sometimes, but Laurinaitis should be able to walk daughters London (age 2½) and Hayden (two weeks) down the wedding aisle some day.

James, wife Shelly, their two daughters, and four dogs call Nashville home these days. The family moved there after his release by the Rams 14 months ago.

Now that his playing days are over, Laurinaitis hopes to get into the broadcast business as an analyst at the pro or college level. Given his knowledge of the game, his communication skills and his touch of humor, he should flourish in that profession.

He already has laid some groundwork speaking with contacts in the business. In fact, he tagged along with fellow Ohio State Buckeye and Nashville neighbor Kirk Herbstreit late last season for the College Gameday show on ESPN. He also watched Herbstreit work the Oklahoma-West Virginia game last season from the booth.

“I’m gonna talk football regardless, whether I’m a broadcaster or not,” Laurinaitis said. “So you might as well try to make a good living out of it. Because I just love the game a lot.”

He said he plans to attend the NFL’s Broadcast Boot Camp media seminar next month “and just kinda see where it goes from there.”

If nothing materializes immediately, well, there’s a high school football team somewhere in Nashville that’s going to get a heck of a linebackers coach next fall.

“I’m looking forward to the next chapter, man,” Laurinaitis said. “I really am.”