Unlocking Johnathan Abram’s potential a challenge for Raiders

Those who’ve coached Raiders second-year safety Johnathan Abram know exactly what that means. Just ask Jones College football coach Steve Buckley, who fondly remembers the year the mercurial now-24-year-old played for him.

“I’m not going call him arrogant. I’m not going to call him that at all. Proud and confident,” said Buckley, who repeated the phrase “Johnathan’s Johnathan” multiple times during a phone interview.

“Johnathan is full speed all the time.”

For better and for worse.

Abram is nearing the conclusion of his first full NFL season. This, after he missed all but one game of his rookie campaign because of a torn rotator cuff. He has shown that he’s an aggressive tackler; he has missed three games yet still leads the Raiders with 82 tackles — many of which were particularly forceful.

But he’s a liability in pass coverage whose aggressive tendencies often leave him out of position.

Opposing quarterbacks through 15 weeks had completed 21 of 28 passes for 358 yards when targeting Abram in coverage this season, per Pro Football Reference. The 12.7 yards per target are the second-most among Raiders starting defensive backs.

He’s tied for the league lead with three unnecessary roughness penalties. He ranks last among 91 qualified safeties, per Pro Football Focus’ grading system.

Yet for all Abram’s flaws, the Raiders still believe he can grow into an impact player. They say he’s too talented, too passionate, for them to let him fail.

“He’s got great football instincts. He’s a terrific hitter, and as soon as you do that, you have my attention,” said Raiders interim defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

Playing with fire

Abram isn’t the only famous football player from Columbia, Mississippi. A running back by the name of Walter Payton once graced its football fields.

But Abram is perhaps the sweetest thing since Sweetness to play football in the town of 5,941. He was a dynamic dual-threat quarterback who could effortlessly lead a touchdown drive and an equally dynamic strong safety who could just as effortlessly end one.

“He was a field general on both sides of the ball,” said Kevin Jackson, Abram’s coach at Columbia’s East Marion High School during his junior and senior seasons. “He was just an athlete in a major way that loved the game of football. He played both ways and never wanted to come off the field. He was a man among boys.”

Abram, Jackson said, was always fiery and physical. He always played the game full speed, the coach said, dating to the first time he watched Abram practice. Even in high school, Abram was an intimidating hitter who loved to tackle more than cover.

He played for fun during his junior season of 2013, enjoying the frenetic Friday nights while guiding East Marion to the Class 2A state semifinals. He played for a scholarship his senior year, prompting an insatiable competitive drive that didn’t always resonate with his teammates.

“Johnathan has a big personality,” Jackson said. “He loved the game and was so passionate about the game that if you didn’t come up to his standards, he would let you know. If he wasn’t liked by his peers, it was because he tried to push them to another level. All high school kids aren’t willing to go down that road.”

But Abram was, especially after generating recruiting interest. He’d log long hours in the school’s weight room and classrooms, ensuring he was ready to play in college.

He helped East Marion back to the state semifinals during his senior year and committed as a two-star recruit to Georgia — validating his arduous approach.

He played eight games for the Bulldogs in 2015, registering 25 tackles to lead the team’s freshmen, but opted to leave the program upon the dismissal of the coaching staff that recruited him.

Jones College is a mere 55 miles from Columbia, and thus was a natural fit for Abram, who enrolled to be re-recruited by Division I programs.

“He had instant credibility because he was coming from Georgia,” Buckley said. “But at the same time, he backed his credibility up.”

Buckley praised Abram’s acumen, noting the ease with which he grasped every scheme that Jones employed. He touted his physical toughness, recalling a game in which Abram sustained a concussion breaking up a screen pass, left the game in an ambulance and returned before its conclusion — asking to play in streetclothes.

He was also a weight room warrior during his lone year at Jones College, one deeply committed to building up his body.

Buckley noted that Abram needed to improve his man-to-man coverage, but it didn’t deter Power Five programs from recruiting him. He committed to Mississippi State and made an impression on Buckley and Jones.

“His personality was contagious and his play was contagious,” Buckley said. “Johnathan’s a warrior.”

‘Time over task’

Former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop once thought Abram wasn’t paying attention during a meeting. So he called on him to gauge just how focused he really was.

Boy, was he wrong.

“Johnathan rattled through every position on the field, exactly what the assignment was, exactly what call they should make. Every defensive position,” said former Mississippi State defensive analyst Van Malone, once a safety for the Detroit Lions, now an assistant at Kansas State.

“You could predict that Johnathan Abram would be an NFL player.”

Abram developed into precisely that during his two years at Mississippi State, maximizing his innate, physical style of play with a detailed cerebral approach. Malone also touted his competitive fervor and explained that he was so “entrenched in his growth, entrenched in his development that you can almost think he’s selfish.

“But he’s not that in any way. He wants to win. He wants to win more than many players I’ve been around in my career,” Malone added. “He’ll attack anybody that’s not pushing down that road and pulling in the same direction that he is.”

Abram finished second on the team in tackles as a junior in 2017 and led the Bulldogs with 99 stops as a senior in 2018. He added nine tackles for losses, three sacks and two interceptions to become the No. 27 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

He missed 15 games during his rookie season but returned this year to start all 11 games in which he has played. He was in the NFL’s concussion protocol last week and was not made available for an interview based on league rules. Cornerback Trayvon Mullen spoke about Abram last week, though, and his role in the Raiders’ secondary.

“He brings speed. He brings power. John is just himself,” Mullen said, unknowingly echoing the “Johnathan’s Johnathan” sentiment. “He’s going to talk to you, communicate. He’s going to have you out there being comfortable. You’re going to be able to play your game.”

Marinelli believes Abram can refine his play through repetition and practice, a process he referred to last week as “time over task.” It’s a little too late to make an impact this season.

The next step for Abram is improving his man coverage skills, which would elevate his play to another level. But his primary value will remain the same.

Malone said people always want to control a player like Abram, who can appear to be playing out of control at times. “But that is his strength, the level of intensity. … You want people like Johnathan Abram on your team.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.