James Laurinaitis Comments on Expectations for Saints Next Season

James Laurinaitis has quickly realized the New Orleans Saints' culture is different than what he was used to.

The new Saints linebacker, who spent the first seven years of his career in St. Louis with the Rams, came to New Orleans to win more than seven games in a season.

That's something he never did in St. Louis.

“We have a lot of guys here who are extremely hungry to be good,” Laurinaitis said Thursday, per Larry Holder of NOLA.com. “I think it’s refreshing to me to be in a place where they’ve won. The expectations are to get back to that. Coming from a spot where we couldn’t break .500, in college I lost nine games—that was it at Ohio State.”

The Rams drafted Laurinaitis with the 35th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. He started all 112 of his games in St. Louis and recorded 100-plus tackles in three different seasons. 

Despite his quality numbers, Laurinaitis and the Rams won a combined 37 games in seven years. That included a one-win campaign in Laurinaitis' rookie year.

"You went to a situation there in St. Louis where we had to try climb out of it," he said, per Holder. "Then you get to here, and you hear 7-9 is just not acceptable. It's awesome to be around that, that hunger. Heck, you get to practice with one of the best offenses in the league every day. It naturally makes you better."

The Rams, now playing in Los Angeles, cut Laurinaitis in February as part of their rebuilding process, but it wasn't because of his play. He'll bring toughness and durability to a Saints defense that ranked last in points allowed in 2015.

An improved defense should give Laurinaitis his first taste of a winning season.

Stats from Pro-Football-Reference.com.