Abe Elam
-
Here are some highlights of our new strong safety, Abram Elam (#27 in the clips):
However, I'm concerned about his ability and instincts in coverage. Though you don't get much of it in the clips, Elam had his share of struggles in coverage last year, most notably in the Denver game. All of us trashed our secondary after the Broncos game, but Elam truly outdid them all.
He gave up 2 TD passes: one on which he came down from his safety spot and pulled a BMac go for the ball move, allowing Eddie Royal to run by for 59 yards and a TD. On the other one, he & Ty Law both jumped the short route, allowing Brandon Stokley to slip by for a 36 yard TD pass. He even struggled against the run, getting bulldozed by Tony Hillis on one long run.
Elam lacks elite speed and athleticism, which makes it hard for him to recover or make last second plays on the ball. But I think the issue's more mental than physical: as he showed on the two bad plays in Denver, Elam tends to have mental lapses in coverage. Another one occurred in the first Buffalo game, when Elam followed Lee Evans on a drag route, allowing TE Derek Fine to sneak behind the secondary for a touchdown. After the play, David Bowens hollered at Elam for what appeared to be a pretty bad mistake.
While Elam's struggles in coverage are disconcerting, one can hope that more time on the field will improve his awareness. Though he'll be 28 in a couple months, Elam's only started seventeen games in his career. For a comparison, Brodney Pool's already started thirty-nine. So it's possible that Elam's still got some untapped potential that Mangini and Ryan can get out of him. He should have sixteen games to prove he can become the hard-hitting strong safety our defense desperately needs; if not, we'll find a very good replacement for him in next year's draft.
-
I love his aggressive play, It's really awesome it seems like the play is never over with him, and thats good!
But his pass coverage sucks... really sucks, it looked like fasano had a step on him. He definitely uses his hands well though.
We cant expect a Sean JOnes amount of picks out of him this year, which sucks....
-
Here's a good article on Elam's past:
-
Pretty much a spot on assessment of Elam. He has a tendency to make high impact plays (the two buffalo games last year come to mind) but he also finds himself out of place in coverage as pointed out in the OP. Mangini has always said that when there is a breakdown in coverage, it’s usually due to a player unnecessarily trying to “make a play”. Perhaps, this reasoning explains Elam’s ability to make impact plays as well as causing breakdowns in coverage. He does tend to be too aggressive at time but this trait is probably what allows him to be effective against the run and rushing the passer.
-
More from James Walker:
James Walker said:
Elam is a player Mangini really liked and wanted to bring over from the New York Jets, where he was primarily a backup. The Browns tried to sign him as a restricted free agent this offseason and failed. Then Cleveland was able to get Elam from New York by trading the No. 5 overall pick. He doesn't appear as athletic as Sean Jones, the player Elam is replacing. But he seems to have a good understanding of the defense, which puts him ahead of his teammates. I'm interested to see how physical Elam is once the team puts pads on, because the Browns don't have many enforcers. -
More from James Walker:
James Walker said:
Elam is a player Mangini really liked and wanted to bring over from the New York Jets, where he was primarily a backup. The Browns tried to sign him as a restricted free agent this offseason and failed. Then Cleveland was able to get Elam from New York by trading the No. 5 overall pick. He doesn't appear as athletic as Sean Jones, the player Elam is replacing. But he seems to have a good understanding of the defense, which puts him ahead of his teammates. I'm interested to see how physical Elam is once the team puts pads on, because the Browns don't have many enforcers.Aloysius said:
More from James Walker:Cleveland will have no rebuttal for comments like that until they go out and prove they can clash with the best and not come away empty handed in the win column.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login