After failing to live up to high expectations with the Dallas Cowboys, former Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter will now get a chance to salvage his career with the St. Louis Rams. There, he will compete for a starting job, and he’ll do so with three other former Buckeyes who are also looking to prove their worth in the NFL.
As part of a trade that sent him from the Cowboys to the Rams in exchange for offensive lineman Alex Barron, Carpenter joins former Buckeye linebackers James Laurinaitis, Na’il Diggs and Larry Grant for a silver bullets reunion in St. Louis. The Rams are counting on Carpenter to help solidify their defense, while he hopes the change of scenery can save what has been a disappointing start to his NFL career.
“It’s more refreshing to be in a new spot,” Carpenter said. “Sometimes change is good. To be in a useful place like St. Louis with all the young guys they have here, and just add to that with guys I’ve played with in college and that makes it even more special to me.”
Selected in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Cowboys, Carpenter struggled mightily during his stint in Dallas to get playing time in the team’s 3-4 defensive alignment.
Although he had his most productive season in 2009, recording 46 tackles and two sacks, his numbers were far lower than what the Cowboys had hoped for when he was drafted.
Carpenter rarely started for the Cowboys, and after being reduced to playing exclusively on special teams and defensive nickel packages, was seen as expendable and subsequently traded to the Rams.
Now, Carpenter will play as a weakside linebacker in the Rams 4-3 defense, similar to the position he played at OSU. With a new team and a new defense, he hopes to emerge from early disappointment the way another former buckeye linebacker, Mike Vrabel, did when he left the Pittsburgh Steelers for the New England Patriots.
“All that stuff happens for a reason,” Carpenter said. “I was able to work through it and get an opportunity in St. Louis, which I know I’ll be able to make the most of.”
Like Carpenter, the other Buckeyes in St. Louis are fighting for respect.
In 2009, then-rookie James Laurinaitis had an immediate impact on the Rams, recording 120 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions. But the former Butkus Award-winner’s accomplishments went largely unnoticed due to the team’s 1-15 record.
“When you win one game as a team it’s hard for anybody to stand out,” Laurinaitis said. “That goes for any position across the board.”
The disappointing season overshadowed an excellent rookie campaign by Laurinaitis, who didn’t receive any votes for the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. But with his team’s winning as his primary concern, Laurinaitis is confident that he and his teammates can change the fortune of the Rams.
“A lot of us think that talent-wise we weren’t a 1-15 team,” Laurinaitis said. “But there’s a lot of guys that are unknown and I think we have a lot of good football players that are working their butts off to get better this offseason.”
Among the “unknown” players Laurinaitis speaks highly about is Larry Grant.
Before he was a teammate at OSU and St. Louis with Laurinaitis, Grant was a little-known prospect from Norcross, Ga., who had to play at junior college in San Francisco before transferring to OSU.
Even at OSU, Grant flew under the radar when playing alongside Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman.
“I’ve always felt like I was one of the unnoticed players, and it brings a chip on my shoulder,” Grant said. “I felt like I really have to bring it to another level every time I come out on the field.”
After being chosen by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL draft, he was signed by the Rams without ever playing for the 49ers.
Grant, who has established himself as a versatile defender on special teams and as a backup linebacker with the Rams, credits OSU assistant coaches Luke Fickell and Jim Heacock for helping prepare him for the NFL.
“I had great coaches in Luke Fickell and Jim Heacock,” Grant said. “They showed me the ropes while I played at Ohio State and let me know that everything I do will be able to convert to the pro game.”
Na’il Diggs, who was a teammate of Fickell’s at OSU, was signed by the Rams this offseason to bring a veteran presence to the young defense.
Entering his 11th season in the NFL, Diggs is an experienced run-stopper who was brought in from the Carolina Panthers to aid a defense that ranked 27th in the league against the rush.
“Coming from Carolina, he’s trying to prove that he has more in the tank,” Laurinaitis said of Diggs, who was released from the Panthers in part because of his age.
The entire Rams team has gone through heavy roster changes in order to prevent another disastrous season. As a result of those changes, it’s possible that all three starting linebackers on the team will be Buckeyes, an anomaly in the NFL world.
But these Buckeyes weren’t assembled by coincidence. The Rams organization knows that even though college is over for the four linebackers, their connection to OSU gives them a unique bond and chemistry that’s difficult to find, and surely needed to revive the franchise.
“I think players at other schools like to imitate the whole ‘The’ Ohio State thing and the kind of bond that we have because they don’t have it at their schools,” Laurinaitis said. “It’s more or less pride about where you went to school and what your teams were able to accomplish. There’s a lot of pride in knowing that your school produces great football players.”
