2019 NFL Draft Prospects: Safeties - Johnathan Abram, Mississippi State
This former Mississippi Defensive Player of the Year and dual-threat quarterback started his career at Georgia, but decided to leave the program to deal with personal matters. After a year at junior college he joined local Mississippi State, where Abram became a leader and impact player with those Bulldogs.
In his senior year he stuffed the stat sheet with 99 tackles, nine of them for loss, two INTs, five passes knocked down, three sacks and a fumble forced and recovered respectively, earning himself earning first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American honors.
Abram is a physical downhill safety and absolute maniac on the football field. He only knows one speed and goes all-out for sixty minutes. That kid brings some incredible energy to the table and in a 24-0 loss to Alabama he kept that attitude until the final fourth-down stop with a minute left in that game.
Abram flies up against the run and screen passes from single-high and split-safety alignments, looking to thump people and he lets them know after the whistle. There are ifs and buts to his game and he will find somebody to run into eventually. He is a trash-talker extraordinaire, who says that he actually researches his opponents’ background before their games. Abram makes several stops on plays that seem to be going for a first down and all of sudden he flashes into the screen, showing special closing burst on tape.
The former MSU safety matched up a lot with tight ends and towards the end of his senior year the coaches put him at nickel primarily. I thought he really shut down Ole Miss’ Dawson Knox and made several big plays in that game, such as blowing up a bubble screen and intercepting an underthrown ball.
Abram has the long speed to match receivers and can close on throws outside his area when he sees the ball go up. He was heavily utilized as a blitzer on all three downs, where he showed good anticipation for the snap and no hesitation to run into some big offensive linemen. You see great understanding for how to time up his blitzes from different alignments and a lot of times Abrams is already at full speed once the play starts, plus when he straight up stands on the edge, his burst is tremendous as well.
With that being said, Abram leaves his feet to much as a tackler and tries to hit with his shoulder only. He really needs to work on breaking down and wrapping up, plus he takes too many over-aggressive angles and gets crossed back to the inside. His ability to flip his hips not only raises questions when redirecting as a chase-player, but also to some degree in coverage. He doesn’t have elite range or instincts in coverage to play in a true free safety role. Abram’s ball-skills are below-par with several penalties when he has back turned towards the ball and a couple of dropped interceptions in the games I watched.
Abram has all the qualities to be a tone-setter for an NFL team. While you have to keep his craziness under control to some degree (two ejections for targeting, fight in Ole Miss game, ejection from own team’s spring game for crushing hit), this guy’s intensity will rub off on teammates. I think there are some limitations to him in coverage, but if you are looking for an intimidating in-the-box safety who could match up with tight-ends or bigger receivers in the slot, this is your dude.
Grade: Early Second