Baltimore Ravens On April 26, 2008, he was selected by the Ravens in the sixth round of the
2008 NFL draft, the 206th player overall. For the 2008 season, Nakamura had 12 tackles in 16 games. On January 10, 2009, Nakamura recorded a career-high five tackles in the Baltimore Ravens 13-10 upset of the AFC's top-seeded Tennessee Titans. On November 16, 2009, Nakamura was injured on the opening kickoff of a
Monday Night Football game versus the
Cleveland Browns in his hometown of
Cleveland. He suffered a broken right ankle attempting to make a tackle on
special teams. Two days later, he was placed on the
injured reserve list, ending his season. For the season, he played in nine games with seven special teams tackles and one tackle on defense. In the 2010 preseason, Nakamura showed signs of a breakout season as evidenced in the pre-season week-three game against the
New York Giants. Nakamura made an interception that coach
John Harbaugh described as being "as good a play as you're ever going to see . . . I don't know how he came up with the ball. He's just a tremendous athlete. He's a football player, through and through." Nakamura also sacked the Giants' quarterback for a loss in that same game. He also returned a fake kickoff against the
Washington Redskins. During the 2010 regular season, Nakamura played in all 16 games and recorded 16 tackles, plus he was second in special teams tackles with 13. He played in all three of the Ravens' post-season games, and in the AFC wild card game he intercepted a pass from
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback
Matt Cassel. In 2011, he played in 15 games (he was inactive for one) and tied for second on the team with nine special teams tackles while posting three tackles backing up safety
Ed Reed on defense. In a Week 4 game against the
St. Louis Rams in 2011, Nakamura was injured and missed a month. He played in two post-season games, leading the team with four special teams tackles.
Carolina Panthers Nakamura signed with the
Carolina Panthers on March 16, 2012. He started a career-high 13 games at free safety, recorded a career-high in tackles with 52, tied for the team lead in interceptions with two and had 10 special teams tackles. His season ended when he suffered a groin injury versus the
Atlanta Falcons on December 9 and was placed on injured reserve two days later. In 2013, during the preseason, he suffered a concussion. On September 2 the Panthers placed him on injured reserve and two days later his status was revised to "released/injury settlement". ==References==