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Will the Raiders have an open competition at strong safety?

marcus mosher
·2 min read
3

Entering Year 3, the Raiders need a lot more from strong safety Johnathan Abram. Not only has he struggled to stay healthy, but when he has been on the field, the play hasn’t been great. In fact, Pro Football Focus graded Abram as the worst safety in the NFL last season, as he had the second-most penalties in the league.

That is why the Raiders added some competition for him this offseason, re-signing former first-round pick Karl Joseph. While he doesn’t have the size of Abram, he’s been a more reliable player who doesn’t create as many negative plays.

But will this be an actual open competition in camp or are the Raiders just going to give Abram the starting job once again?

In a recent article by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, he wrote about every team’s biggest camp battle. For the Raiders, he listed the strong safety position. Here is a snippet of his thoughts on the position for the 2021 season:

“(Johnathan) Abram missed his rookie season and gave up five touchdowns in 13 games last season while tying for second in the league in unnecessary roughness penalties with three. So the Raiders brought back a familiar face in Karl Joseph on a one-year deal after he didn’t exactly tear it up in Cleveland (seven TDs allowed and a 102.1 passer rating against him.) Joseph — who in 2016 was also a first-round pick of the Raiders — is a trusted by Jon Gruden as a leader in the locker room, and his guidance in the backend can help his candidacy this summer.”

It’s pretty clear that head coach Jon Gruden loves Abram and wants him to be the leader of the defense. But if he continues to hurt the defense more than he helps, the Raiders might not have a choice but to bench the 2019 first-round selection.

Look for Abram to open the season as a starter, but don’t be surprised if the Raiders sub-in Joseph in certain packages to limit his snaps in coverage. Because if this were truly an open competition, Joseph would likely win the job outright and it would be Abram sitting on the bench.