JL isn't near as good as Willis and Ryans were in college. He's good, but those two were just better. JL is getting all the hype because he plays at OSU and he's Animal's kid.
So why did Ryans last till the 2nd round? Roman Harper was on that Alabama team and made some huge plays for them. Harper has hardly looked an all-pro. Chad Greenway and Bobby Carpenter were taken 14 and 15 spots ahead of Ryans respectively. The hyped linebackers on this board as I recall were D'Qwell Jackson and Abdul Hodge. At no point was Ryans regarded as the elite linebacker of the 2006 draft. There were question marks over Patrick Willis. Many on this board pointed to his rundown of Darren McFadden and criticised Willis's initial angle and questions him wrapping up tackles. People should stop pointing to the last defensive rookies of the year and realise that there were as many, if not more question marks over Ryans and Willis as Laurinaitis