[News] Reports: Ravens Decline Fifth-Year Option On Matt Elam

[BR News]

The Ravens have decided not to pick up the option on the first-round pick from 2013.

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[EdTheMythicalOne]

This should be his first wake up call that his future in Baltimore is tenuous at best. In a thread called My Guess at the 53 man Roster on the forums I discuss this matter a bit more. I think he might very well be a roster cut this year depending on how well he shows in pre season.

[fluffy201]

Considering he was only the 3rd safety to be picked in the 2013 draft, I would say Matt Elam is a huge disappointment. I will give the kid this, we basically lost everyone in the secondary that year and he was just thrown into the wind. Given that, good players take advantage of that opportunity and excel. I think it is also a good probability that he gets cut before the season starts.

[sami]

He was given every chance. I just guess he wasn't made for the pros.

[The Greek]

hope he steps up and becomes a beast for us but his time is running out

[ellicottraven]

I hope he vindicates himself and earns himself a good second contract somewhere if not here. But, why not here? Focus and play well Matt Elam. Otherwise you won't stand a chance anywhere else. Good luck.

[stixfix69]

Like Harbs said, it's all about good competition, and we are now very deep at every position except ILBer, so it should make for a very competitive camp.....

[Space11jams]

i hope this lights a fire for him to bring it this season! time waits for no one!

[eze17]

Not surprising at all...make or break time, and I personally do hope he can get it going.

[Rich McG]

Lucky Matt. Huge pile of money, off all last year, and if he shows any football ability (which he hasn't so far) this up coming season another pile of money from some other team next season. Florida must have a lot of great players surrounding him. He's a true Raven and we all wish him the best and hope the light go on THIS SEASON! Go Matt.

[EddiOK]

This is incentive time.
He needs to have a Pro-Bowl type of year for the Ravens to keep him.
Or we'll just get some good draft picks when he signs with another team to make bank.

[merryjman]

Poor guy. He got thrown to the wolves before he had a chance to properly develop behind a veteran, then he got a season-ending injury; so I think it's hard to really say whether he's a bust. He is a hard working, high character guy and he wants to do well. I think there's a decent chance that he can bounce back and justify his 32 overall pick, and I'll be rooting for him!

[PalmBayRaven]

Poor guy. He got thrown to the wolves before he had a chance to properly develop behind a veteran, then he got a season-ending injury; so I think it's hard to really say whether he's a bust. He is a hard working, high character guy and he wants to do well. I think there's a decent chance that he can bounce back and justify his 32 overall pick, and I'll be rooting for him!

Are you kidding me? He was Bust by year 2. How many tackles did he miss that cost us a touch down or the game? Please, that's why they had to go get Kendrick Lewis and Will Hill. Not For Long it's another name for the NFL and Elam has not lived up to his draft status at all. Poor guy got 10 million and I am not feeling sorry for him. He had the opportunity and just didn't perform up to our standards.

[Crusader]

For some reason he could not keep his feet under him. I find it shocking a first rounder cannot get better after 4 years. Something no right. I blame some on coaching.Did they ever have a good secondary coach?

[Crusader]

That's what really ticked me off. Ed Reed could have taught this guy but we all know why so basically they threw away a first rounder.

[PalmBayRaven]

For some reason he could not keep his feet under him. I find it shocking a first rounder cannot get better after 4 years. Something no right. I blame some on coaching.Did they ever have a good secondary coach?

You can't fix stupid no matter the coaching.

[PalmBayRaven]

That's what really ticked me off. Ed Reed could have taught this guy but we all know why so basically they threw away a first rounder.

Considering Arthur Brown was the 2nd pick in that draft you could say they blew 2 picks in that draft. I'm over it now Ozzie admitted that the last few drafts were not up to Ravens standards.

[harfordravenfan]

1 hour ago, merryjman said:

Poor guy. He got thrown to the wolves before he had a chance to properly develop behind a veteran, then he got a season-ending injury; so I think it's hard to really say whether he's a bust. He is a hard working, high character guy and he wants to do well. I think there's a decent chance that he can bounce back and justify his 32 overall pick, and I'll be rooting for him!

Well said

[Ugly Ball]

For some reason he could not keep his feet under him. I find it shocking a first rounder cannot get better after 4 years. Something no right. I blame some on coaching.Did they ever have a good secondary coach?

I have been thinking our secondary coaches have contributed to our biggest weakness for the last few seasons. When we let guys go and they seam to do better for other teams, that's a hint. I've also said, I don't like the idea of bend, don't break. Hopefully with new secondary coaching this season and Weddle calling plays, there is a big improvement all around.

[bigcatfrank1]

Matt played well when he limited his play as a Short Yardage Safety. He is not a great FS and he did not develop as a sack type Safety or Deep cover guy. This forced him to play on run downs and thus arm tackling becomes more of a problem. The injury seemed to be aggravated by this type of play. He cannot make a living without 3 shut down guys in place, this may never happen for him.

[elemento]

Too many excuses for him at this point. He was drafted to be our starting safety for a long-time. 

 

I mean, if you're a safety and you can't tackle or cover, you're worthless. It's time to cut the ties and admit that we made a mistake drafting him . 

[WNC-Raven]

Maybe Leslie Frazier will make an impact. Plus contract years have a funny way of bringing out the best in players. I'm glad we didn't give up on Jimmy

[mearzunkies]

LOL You people seem to have forgotten how well that Raven secondary finished last year... LMAO at you;)

[ALSKAN RAVEN FAN]

I think this is good maybe Elam can get his game together and turn his career on....he just has to prove he can be effective and efficient at the NFL level.

[SorryNotSorry]

Well if you ever watched him play at Florida... he was pretty much the same player. In the box, good run support but horrible tackling fundamentals, limited coverage ability. How we expect these guys to magically transform into different players is annoying.

[sp3ctor]

I don't see this as Ozzie and co. saying Elam was a bust. I think this is more of a strategic move. Given that both Safety positions are all but locked up by Weddle and Webb, there's very little opportunity for him to make that big of a bounce-back this year that other teams will take notice, thus he will not be worth anywhere close to $5.5 million next off season unless he turns into Troy Polamalu over night (sorry for the Steelers reference). Plus if he can show some signs of improvement the team could feasibly resign him next offseason to a 2 or 3 year base salary that might prove to be a bargain if he can finally turn the corner and become a first-round talent.

[Saxxin]

Like Harbs said, it's all about good competition, and we are now very deep at every position except ILBer, so it should make for a very competitive camp.....

So far. You can bet Ozzie will find tmore ILB's once the cuts start. Maybe even one good enough to win a starting job. September is a long ways off.

[chunkywill25]

too bad he didn't get a chance to rebound from his pretty bad 2014 season due to injury. i still have a glimmer of hope lol. 

[Ravensfansince03]

Obviously a move we had to make, but on another note, my gosh are we in a hole far as our defensive secondary. Outside of Jim Smith, Webb, and Eric Weddle (?), we really have no reliability. Kyle Arrington was a real slump last year but lets hope it was a new team transitional thing, he could come out this season. But if not we are looking at a fragile secondary if anyone gets injured.

[BoominRaven]

bust all the way. good kid, no business whatsoever being a first round pick even at the time of that draft it was questionable. cyprien or slay should have been the one in purple and black at 32