By the literal definition, it's not technically a homecoming for Johnathan Abram. That won't stop the Mississippi native from feeling like he's joining the "home team" as a new member of the New Orleans Saints.
Some of Abram's fondest memories from his childhood were his family's short road trips to Saints games. He recalled one game in particular that he was yelling to WR Joe Horn "I want a ball!" Later in the game, Horn caught a touchdown pass from QB Aaron Brooks, and the wide receiver jumped up into the stands and handed it to him.
"We didn’t have a team, so coming down to New Orleans was just a skip away," Abram told Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert on SportsTalk. "So we got to come down and see a lot of games going up. It feels like I’m playing for the home team, and I have a lot of friends in Louisiana, as well.”
Listen to WWL Radio's full interview with Johnathan Abram in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Abram still has the ball, though he's a bit iffy on which game it was actually from. Speaking to the media this week, he said he believes it was a game against the Falcons at the Superdome. If that's correct, the only possible game would've have been on Oct. 27, 2002 -- a shootout that ended in a 37-35 Falcons win. WWL Radio color analyst Deuce McAllister, also a native of Mississippi, rushed for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns that day.
Signing with the Saints will give Abram a good opportunity to grab the ball, which he believes is in a trophy case at his grandmother's house in Mississippi, and he might just bring it with him to his first "day at work."
It's only one of the connections that drew Abram, a 2019 first-round pick of the Raiders, to sign in New Orleans. He'll also be joining former Raiders teammate Derek Carr, who played a role in recruiting the xx-year-old safety to New Orleans.
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Another of those connections is J.T. Gray, whom Abram was teammates with at Mississippi State. He also knows Tyrann Mathieu, one of the homecoming stories from the 2022 season, and they've already been in touch.
"I’m looking forward to getting back with [Gray] and spending time, going out there and competing with him, trying to make some plays. ... I’ll compete with him on special teams and try to take a couple plays away from him, put them on my own plate," Abram told WWL. "But J.T. is not gonna make that easy, and I know he’s going to be the ultimate competitor, and I’m looking forward to it. He’s only going to make me better.”
It's the latest stop in an interesting journey for the former No. 27-overall pick. He's appeared in 43 games games, starting 36 with 267 tackles (167 solo), 3 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. But after three seasons with the Raiders -- split between Oakland and Las Vegas -- he found himself on the road often in 2022. Abram played in eight games for the Raiders before being cut, at which point he was claimed by the Packers on waivers. He appeared in two games for Green Bay before he was cut again, then claimed by the Seahawks. Abram appeared in the final three games of the season and a playoff game for Seattle before hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time.
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It was an eye-opening experience, he said, at least in terms of how the business of the NFL operates. He'd wager that a large number of NFL players don't really understand how the waivers system works until they're in it. He was reluctant to describe the experience as adversity beyond the difficulty of moving from home to home to home throughout the season.
“I don’t think you ever lose the humble or the hungriness in this game. It’s a business," Abram said. "You learn not to take anything personal, you know? They made a decision not to bring me back because they felt they wanted to go in a different direction, and I respect that."
There were multiple teams interested in his services this time around, but it was his decision where he landed. So why'd he end up on the Saints? As has been a common thread throughout the free agency process, the decision was based on how the team laid out the vision for his role. He expects to be a hard-hitting Swiss Army knife and an integral cog on special teams. A fitting role for a team that values both those skills very highly.
“I’m essentially here to just find how I fit in, to do what I do best, be myself and just complement the guys around me, just try to make everybody better pretty much every day," Abram said. "That’s all I look forward to doing.”
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