Any supposed competition between Will Hill and Matt Elam for a starting safety spot evaporated Saturday when Matt Elam injured his biceps per The Baltimore Sun‘s Aaron Wilson. Elam had been having the best offseason of his career according to defensive coordinator Dean Pees, making the injury that much more painful for the third-year safety.
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Let’s take a look at what the injury means for Elam and the Ravens.
What it means for Elam
Elam had one chance to earn a starting job this year, and now his chance has disappeared. It may have been the last chance of his career.
Will Hill has been tremendous per multiple sources, and he has already proven to be a quality starter. He was the frontrunner for the starting job even before Elam’s injury, but at least Elam would have played some if healthy.
The good news for Elam is that his cap hit is a relatively small $2.15 million next year, so he should get another chance to at least make the roster.
And considering Kendrick Lewis‘ limited upside, Elam could still be the safety of the future. He is four years younger than Lewis and has better athleticism. That is way off in the future, though. Elam first needs to apply himself to rehab, then work off the rust. That’s a daunting task for a player who was already facing long odds to get his career back on track.
All is not lost, but this injury is obviously a huge blow to Elam, and possibly a career-ending one.
What it means for the Ravens
It means Will Hill is going to be the starter. That’s not such a bad thing, but a little competition for Hill would have been nice.
More importantly, the Ravens are now thin at safety. Perilously thin. Anthony Levine and Brynden Trawick are the main depth at safety until Terrence Brooks returns from the Physically Unable to Perform list. Trawick has barely played any meaningful defensive reps in his career, while Levine’s only meaningful reps have been at cornerback.
So what do the Ravens do? Do they look to the less than impressive group of remaining free agents? Bernard Pollard anyone? Do they try to ride it out with their unproven depth?
The Ravens have almost $9 million in cap space, so they have plenty of money to sign a guy like Pollard or Dawan Landry. Trawick and Levine are both more athletic, though, and both have flashed upside in preseason and limited regular season reps.
Barring a free agent signing, Terrence Brooks may be the most important depth safety now that Elam is out for the year.
A long-term safety tandem of Brooks and Hill is enticing, blending world-class athleticism with excellent coverage skills. Brooks was arguably the Ravens second-best safety in coverage last year behind Hill, and that’s even considering some high-profile rookie mistakes. In fact, his legal hit on Delanie Walker was one of the defining moments of the season for the Ravens defense.
Brooks got some good action in OTAs, and though he is currently on the PUP list, Brooks has an outside chance of being ready to play at the beginning of the season. He is well ahead of schedule on his recovery, and at worst, he should be back midseason. That means the Ravens will only have to hold out for around six games before getting Brooks back. Levine and Trawick can probably handle the backup chores until then.
In sum, any free agent addition would be a minor surprise, even if the Ravens’ safety depth is unproven. Brooks, Trawick and Levine all have enough upside to play a role this year. Losing Elam hurts surprisingly much considering his struggles last year. Even so, there is still reason for excitement in the secondary. That blend of youth and athleticism has to be better than the plodding veterans the Ravens trotted out for much of last year, right?
Shawn began his writing career with Bleacher Report as a Ravens featured columnist and Breaking News Team writer. He moved on to write for Yahoo! and work on the Ravens Central Radio podcast. Most recently, he was an Editor at the Baltimore Wire. Shawn is a 2013 graduate of the Catholic University of America.