OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Not a sure bet to make the 53-man roster in his fourth season, Ravens safety Matt Elam will miss “a number of weeks” with a knee injury sustained in Saturday’s preseason win over Indianapolis.
Head coach John Harbaugh announced that the 2013 first-round pick would undergo surgery after he collected two tackles in 29 defensive snaps against the Colts.
“Matt Elam fell on his knee during the game,” Harbaugh said. “We didn’t find this out until yesterday. He has to go in and do an arthroscopic surgery to clean it out. He had a chip come loose in there. It won’t be a season-ending injury by any stretch. They say it’s about some number of weeks into the early part of the season.”
What this means for Elam’s future with the organization remains to be seen as he was already fighting for a reserve spot on the 53-man roster with veterans Eric Weddle and Lardarius Webb entrenched as the starting safeties. Elam hasn’t lived up to expectations as the first draft selection made by Baltimore after Super Bowl XLVII, but he reported to training camp in good shape and had shown improvement this summer after missing the entire 2015 season with a torn biceps.
The 24-year-old is not be eligible for the reserve physically unable to perform list, meaning general manager Ozzie Newsome would be forced to either carry him on the 53-man roster to begin the season or place him on injured reserve with the possibility of bringing him back later in the season. Teams are no longer required to designate an IR player to return ahead of time, but they are still only allowed to pull back one player per season.
Elam was competing with the likes of Terrence Brooks and Kendrick Lewis for reserve safety roles in the secondary.
“We’ll just see how that goes,” said Harbaugh in returns to the timetable for Elam’s return. “It’s unfortunate for him, but Ozzie [Newsome] will deal with it roster-wise however he decides to deal with it.”
