Harbaugh confirms Ravens safety Elam out for season
Ravens safety Matt Elam will miss the season with a biceps tear.
Coach John Harbaugh confirmed after Monday's practice that the third-year safety would undergo season-ending surgery. Elam injured his biceps while attempting to wrap a receiver during practice on Saturday.
Members of the organization had said they expected more from the 2013 first-round draft pick after a disappointing 2014, when he eventually lost his starting job. Elam was challenged publicly by general manager Ozzie Newsome back in May and entered training camp with a renewed sense of urgency. Early on, he looked more like the player that made him the 32nd overall pick out of Florida in 2013.
Elam was competing with Will Hill for the starting strong safety spot this summer.
"I feel bad for Matt just because he was doing so well," Harbaugh said. "He had really been determined to change and improve some things he wasn't doing quite as well.
"It's a setback he's going to have to overcome, some adversity he's going to have to walk through and come out the other end a better player and person, which he's determined to do."
Brynden Trawick, Anthony Levine, and rookie Nick Perry are the only healthy safeties on the current roster behind Hill and starting free safety Kendrick Lewis. Second-year safety Terrence Brooks remains on the physically unable to perform list while recovering from a knee injury suffered in December.
"We're not planning on bringing anybody in at this time," Harbaugh said. "We think we have a lot of depth there. We've got some young players I thought stepped up tonight, so we'll see how those guys do."
Elam has appeared in 32 career games, collecting 127 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble, and seven pass breakups.
