Packers sign former Raiders' safety Johnathan Abram off waivers

The Green Bay Packers have claimed former Raiders’ safety Johnathan Abram, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Former Raiders’ interim head coach Rich Bisaccia worked with Abram in Las Vegas on the special teams unit. He’s currently the special teams’ coach for Green Bay. Abram was waived by the Raiders on Tuesday.

Las Vegas made him the No. 27 overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during the first game of his rookie season. After that, he never became quite the player the Raiders had hoped and so they decided to cut ties with him.

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The Packers are also in need of some help in the secondary, because they’ve suffered a number of injuries lately. Green Bay is also hoping that he’ll be able to assist on special teams. Since Bisaccia was the special teams coach at one point for Las Vegas, he likely gave the Packers coaching staff a good endorsement of his former pupil.

Abram’s PFF grades the last few seasons ranked among the worst in the National Football League. In 2022, he ranked 60th out of 64 safeties in the NFL. In 2021, he ranked 55th out of 65. Then, in 2019, he ranked 63rd out of 63–dead last. He did rack up 116 tackles during the 2021 season. While Abram had a highly decorated career at Mississippi State–things just simply have not worked out for him at the NFL level. We’ll see if the change of scenery in Green Bay can somehow spark a turnaround in his professional career.

Abram had a highly decorated career with Mississippi State

During his final two seasons in Starkville, he racked up 170 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, five sacks, three forced fumbles, and two interceptions. Abram earned All-America honors (second and third team honors) from multiple publications his senior year at Mississippi State. That year, he led the team and ranked eighth in the SEC in tackles with 99. The hard-hitting safety ranked first in the SEC and third in the nation among safeties with five quarterback hits. He also notched eight tackles in eight different games during his senior season in 2018.