Johnathan Abram will not reach free agency. The Packers stepped in with a successful waiver claim to land the former Raiders safety, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
The Raiders cut bait on the former first-round pick Tuesday, but he will have a chance to make a better impression in Green Bay. Abram’s rookie contract runs through season’s end, after the Raiders did not pick up his fifth-year option. Just more than $1MM is now the Packers’ responsibility.
Green Bay rosters an experienced safety tandem; Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage have started together for the past four seasons. Abram will, however, reunite with former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who is now the Pack’s special teams coordinator. Abram also rejoins ex-Raiders safety/special-teamer Dallin Leavitt with the Packers.
Abram, 26, will trek to Wisconsin with 34 career starts under his belt. Six of those came this season. The former Mississippi State prospect began 2022 in the Raiders’ starting lineup, under ex-Packers assistant Patrick Graham, but saw his playing time reduced over the past two games. The Raiders did not use Abram on special teams over the first five weeks but began using him in that capacity in October; he played 52% of Las Vegas’ special teams snaps Sunday in Jacksonville.
Drafted with the No. 27 overall pick the Raiders obtained in the Amari Cooper trade, Abram suffered shoulder injuries that forced him to miss 15 games as a rookie. He bounced back to be a full-timer under Jon Gruden and Bisaccia from 2020-21. In going to the Packers, Abram will now be part of a fourth defensive scheme since 2020. The Raiders went from Paul Guenther to Gus Bradley to Graham from 2020-22; Abram will now work under second-year Packers DC Joe Barry.
Issues in coverage were a major part of Abram’s failure to pan out with the Raiders, who have made significant changes since adding a new regime this offseason. Pro Football Focus ranks Abram outside the top 75 at safety this season. He made 116 tackles in 2021 — second on the Raiders — and has 48 stops this year. The Packers now have six safeties on their active roster, with Abram and Leavitt joining Rudy Ford and seventh-round rookie Tariq Carpenter. That is on the high side, so it will be interesting to see if Green Bay keeps that sextet on its 53-man roster going forward.
Good pickup for back up and spot starter (injuries). Probably has special teams value as well. Raiders dumping Abram mid-season was weird, it’s not like the Raiders have infinite depth at DB.
Abram was not drafted for his coverage skills. He was drafted as a bruiser to bring the hammer over the middle of the field. He was intended to make the offense hear footsteps on the field, that is his coverage skill.
Great pick up by Green Bay.
That sounds great until you see how lost he looks in coverage. I always felt like this guy would of been great in the 70’s because that era loved big hitters. They didn’t really need to cover against complex schemes. That time is gone and now he’s just a liability
The Bucs only have 3 safeties but extra WR depth. Perhaps they should work a deal with the Packers.
I wasn’t aware the nfl allowed post-deadline trades.
Not a trade he was placed on waivers
I like this move. I think he’s better than Keisean Nixon and I think he would be a good fit if Amos or Savage were to miss time.
This could be a very good addition for Green Bay, if Abram is the same player he was drafted to be. The reason is that Green Bay plays a lot of penny defense, and has a lot of DBs on the field at any given time. It’s one reason that their run defense is worse than their pass defense. Having Abram, who obviously plays the run much better than the pass, could allow them to play the penny and help the run defense.
Hopefully for Green Bay, Abram is the same player that he was when he was drafted, and hopefully they don’t leave him in coverage more than what’s necessary.
Berry will use him at Edge to replace Gary.
PFF rates him as the 136th run defense safety this season. 107th last season. He’s a big hitter who takes awful angles and gets beat consistently when tackling
Yeah, that’s why the Raiders cut him. Of course, he played better in a different scheme. Abram’s drop in production can be due to that, injuries, or just wearing out the niche that he filled early. So like I said, this could be good for Green Bay. It’s really going to depend on how they use him and whether Abram can return to form.
Return to what form? He’s never been good in the NFL
Maybe they plan to line him up at WR. That’ll show Rodgers who’s in charge!