In the final days leading up to the NFL Draft, Trevor Laws was diagnosed with pneumonia and opted to treat it like a scratchy throat.
“It’s just gunk in your lungs, right?” said Laws, who worked out for the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday against doctor’s orders. “I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life. I wasn’t going to let that slow me down.”
Laws’ wait was shorter than expected Saturday. Thanks to the shortest first round since 1990 (3 hours, 30 minutes down from 6:18 last year) and an eager Philadelphia Eagles front office, Laws’ dream was realized while ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper’s rants and hair were both still in perfect form.
The Eagles, who had dealt their first-round pick to Carolina, traded up in the second round to nab the former Irish defensive tackle from Burnsville, Minn., with the 47th pick overall, the Eagles’ first selection of this draft. Nine picks earlier, Irish teammate and fellow Minnesotan John Carlson was plucked by Seattle.
The Seahawks also traded up to get their Irish. The fifth-year senior tight was the seventh player selected in the second round and second tight end of the draft to be chosen, after only Purdue’s Dustin Keller (New York Jets, 30th pick of the first round).
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Carlson, who joins former Irish running back Julius Jones in Seattle. “I was bracing myself, thinking it could possibly not happen until (today).”
The draft continues today at 10 a.m., with rounds three through seven. Former Irish safety Tom Zbikowski, who has formed a friendship with former all-pro cornerback Deion Sanders and plans to work out with him after the draft, is expected to be the next Irish player off the board.
Miami, which has the first pick today — 64th overall — has reportedly toyed with taking Zbikowski. Jacksonville also has shown strong interest, but the Jaguars traded their third-round pick to Houston. The Chicago Bears are reportedly looking at possibly taking Zbikowski in the fourth round with the 110th pick overall.
Center John Sullivan is the only other Notre Dame player who projects in the draft his year, though classmates running back Travis Thomas, punter Geoff Price, defensive lineman Dwight Stephenson, long snapper J.J. Jansen and linebacker Joe Brockington all hope to end up in an NFL training camp. Sullivan is expected to be chosen in the fifth or sixth rounds.
Laws was the fourth defensive tackle taken in the draft — behind LSU’s Glenn Dorsey, USC’s Sedrick Ellis and North Carolina’s Kentwan Balmer — and at No. 47 was the highest draft position for a Notre Dame interior defensive lineman since Bryant Young was chosen seventh overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 1994.
He joins former teammate, defensive end Victor Abiamiri, in Philadelphia. Former Irish linebacker Rocky Boiman is also on the Eagles’ roster. The Eagles’ defensive coordinator is Jim Johnson, a former Irish defensive coordinator whose tenure at Notre Dame included the 1977 national championship run.
Philadelphia is coached by Irish head coach Charlie Weis’ close friend and confidant, Andy Reid.
“Trevor is a high-energy player,” Reid said. “He had the most tackles for loss in the country this past year. I think he upgrades (our) defensive line.”
Perhaps no player in the entire draft moved up as much from end of his season to the draft than did Laws. But after being thought of as too squatty and two short-armed, Laws wowed scouts at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine.
“Right after the season, I was a little worried about a lot of things,” said Laws, initially projected as a fifth- to seventh-rounder, despite leading Notre Dame in tackles with 112 this past season. “I didn’t get any national awards, and I thought maybe our struggles as a team might hold me back a bit.
“I also wasn’t sure if the 3-4 defense we changed to would help or hurt. Some teams probably looked at me as a ’tweener because of it, but some looked at me as more versatile — athletic enough to rush off the edge yet strong enough to play inside. In the end, it worked out perfectly, and I attribute a lot of that to having coach Weis as my college coach the past three years.”
Carlson, the third Irish tight end selected in the past four drafts, also trumpeted the Weis factor.
“I owe a lot to him a lot for what he taught me about the game and the way he utilized me in his offense,” said Carlson, who spent the day in his hometown of Litchfield, Minn., with family, friends, fiancee and the TV set off.
Carlson, like Laws, had to battle illness. And his came at an even more inopportune time. Whether it was a virus or a parasite — Carlson still isn’t sure — it caused the 6-foot-6, 255-pounder to miss the Senior Bowl in late January after dropping 17 pounds and significant strength in a matter of days.
He did attend the NFL Combine less than a month later, but his measureables — particularly his 40-yard dash time — were way off. A healthy Carlson then wowed scouts, including Seattle’s Ruston Webster, at ND’s pro day on March 19.
“We had liked this guy all year long and we were really looking at him hard,” Seahawks president and general manager Tim Ruskell said. “And (then) he goes to the combine and runs a 4.9, so we were asking, ‘What happened?’ Some teams, if you don’t keep after it and get all the information, you might have said, ‘Hmmm, not going to do it.’ ”
Instead, he was Seattle’s No. 1 prospect at tight end, a position of great need for the Seahawks.
“We probably, as an organization, spent as much time on the tight ends as any position in this draft,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “John Carlson, to me and Tim, was the most all-around, solid guy (at that position). He’s really a good football player — very good hands, very good route-runner. We love everything about his intangibles — how he practices, how he conducts his life.
“The other thing we really liked. When you go through a tough experience like he went through last season (ND finished 3-9), he was one of the young men who did everything he possibly could to salvage a real tough thing. You like that when you see that and hear about that. That’s a real positive as far as we’re concerned.”
