Las Vegas Raiders: 3 things to help Johnathan Abram improve in 2021
By BD Williams
The Las Vegas Raiders have a potentially great safety in Johnathan Abram, who must improve in 2021, and here are things that can help him do just that.
In the 2019 NFL Draft, the then-Oakland Raiders selected safety Johnathan Abram with the 27th overall pick. Abram was viewed as a great athlete albeit undisciplined and reckless, but the biggest knock on Abram, however, was his inconsistency in coverage.
Fast forward to the following training camp, and Abram’s personality was the biggest takeaway from the HBO Hard Knocks series that took an inside look into practice and meetings and got to know the players. Abram’s infectious and brazen personality seemed to live up to his on-field demeanor of laying incredibly hard hits and leaving his body on the line.
Unfortunately for the young rookie, his initial NFL season was cut short after one game, when he injured his shoulder laying a hard hit against Denver. His willingness to finish the game with the injury, however, won over even more fans who were anxious to see a safety who was a throw-back to the Raiders defensive-backs of old like Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, and Willie Brown.
The excitement over Abram’s following season eventually wore off, and he began to bear criticism from fans and the National Media alike for a spate of missed tackles against the New England Patriots this year. But no blunder was more widely panned than Abram abandoning his coverage assignment to chase Patrick Mahomes, who summarily threw a TD pass to Travis Kelce in the exact area of the field Abram had vacated.
This one play of course didn’t lose the game, but it became a symbol for the Raiders’ defensive performance blowing the lead against the hated Chiefs.
Since then, the naysayers have come out in full force, saying things like Abram is bad in coverage, he is too undisciplined, stiff-hipped, and has poor instincts to be trusted in deep or man coverage. Many have called him a bust and/or suggested he should exclusively play in the box or even make a conversion to linebacker.
As an avid follower of the draft, this writer had Abram ranked the sixth-best safety in the NFL Draft, and was disappointed that he was the Raiders first round selection. That being said, there is a clear path to see how Abram can turn into the once-promising player Raider Nation had envisioned.