Healthy Johnathan Abram key to Las Vegas Raiders secondary in 2020
By Brad Weiss
Healthy Johnathan Abram key to Las Vegas Raiders secondary in 2020
Raiders building around Abram, Mullen
This offseason, the team revamped the entire defensive backfield, bringing in Prince Amukamura, Jeff Heath, and Damarious Randall via free agency, as well as drafting Damon Arnette in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Randall and Heath will battle it out with Erik Harris to see who starts alongside Abram in 2020, but no matter who it is, Abram is the key here.
Harris stepped up in a big way for the Raiders last season, proving not only to be good enough to earn a roster spot, but good enough to make plays in the secondary. Even if he is the third safety on the depth chart, he can play anywhere the Raiders put him, and Heath has started all but four games for the Dallas Cowboys over the past three seasons.
According to Vic Tafur of the Athletic, Mike Mayock has stated that Randall would be competing to start alongside Abram, so he appears to have the leg-up on the competition heading into camp. This is going to be an interesting thing to watch, as there are three very good veterans vying for the chance to start, something the franchise has not had in a long time.
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Truth be told, I like all the moves the Raiders made in the secondary this offseason, as Randall is solid, Robertson was a steal in the draft, and Amukamura should be a good veteran to plug in until Arnette is ready. However, if Abram is not the player we saw during the summer, and in Week 1, this secondary is going to struggle.