Jonathan Abram & camp notes

NAPA — It is only natural for rookie safety Johnathan Abram to take after Lamarcus Joyner, who has been playing the position well for five seasons in the NFL. The two are always talking and their families have become close.

It is probably more telling that Abram is being taken under the wing of veteran linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Abram likes to hit people and Burfict, the former Bengal and pen pal of the league’s fine-givers, likes to hit so much that he sometimes ignores the whistle telling him to stop.

“He reminds me of myself,” Burfict said after Monday’s practice. “He talks a little more than I do, though. Sometimes we gotta tell him to shut up in the huddle. But he backs it up.

“You can talk as much as you want as long as you back it up.”

Known for running downhill and blasting ball carriers at Mississippi State, Abram has to work on the pass-defense side of things. He has great range but dropped an interception and had another pass bounce off his shins on Saturday.

“He’s gotta start catching his picks, man,” Burfict said. “I told him that he owes me $1,000 for every pick he drops, so right now he has $2,000 in the pot.”

Abram does invest a lot of time in the playbook and has been well prepared for the first four days of camp.

“He’s young, talented and aggressive,” Burfict said.

Abram has not been available to reporters at training camp. But the reviews on both him and rookie defensive end Clelin Ferrell, the team’s other defensive first-round pick, have been positive.

“They’re great,” Burfict said. “Leaders. I don’t remember any type of rookie that’s come in and is talking as much as they do. Getting into other people’s heads. Abram is so aggressive, sometimes I have to tell him, ‘Hey, you gotta hold it back a little bit. These guys are on our team.’”

So, Abram “keeps bragging” about what he is going to do when the Rams come in for dual practices on Aug. 7-8.

“I can’t wait to see him play on Sundays,” Burfict said.

At one point Monday, Burfict and Abram took turns as the scout team running back in a drill against the defensive line. Abram was talking the whole time and the recipient of some hard, playful slaps in the head from teammates.

“He don’t take no stuff from nobody,” Ferrell said. “He’s not afraid to speak his mind, even though some of it be crazy coming out of his mouth.”

Ferrell has also turned to Burfict for help, as have most of the defensive players. Burfict was extremely close to defensive coordinator Paul Guenther when the two were together in Cincinnati and is moving teammates around like chess pieces before the ball is snapped in scrimmages here.

How many questions does he get about the scheme?

“A lot,” Burfict said. “I like it though, man. It kind of keeps me sharp on my game. You know, if you’re not talking about football, if you’re not thinking football, then what are we here for, man? A lot of the guys want to watch film with me to see what I know. … At the same time I’m coaching them, I’m coaching myself. I’m enjoying it. I enjoy being a leader and I just want all 11 to think the same way so we all can play fast.”

Monday was the Raiders’ first practice in pads, a day that holds a special place in Burfict’s heart.

“It’s great, you know, you get contact now,” he said. “You get collisions and stuff like that, so it’s obviously football time. It’s exciting to be out here with your teammates. Getting to see where everybody’s heart is at because obviously with no pads … there’s different type of players.

“You see what type of physical players they are with the pads on. Our safeties made great plays today and, you know, you want a great, aggressive safety, so I’m excited for this year.”

One moment that Burfict didn’t care too much for was when he went against 6-foot-9, 385-pound right tackle Trent Brown.

“Man, he’s a big wall, I’ll tell you that,” Burfict said. “They actually ran a press my way and he came up to me and I fought off of him. I lost vision of the running back because he’s so big. But I’m excited for him, man.

“He has a baby face so I call him ‘Big Baby’ … Don’t tell him that though. But, yeah, he’s a great player. He moves pretty fast to be that big.“

Practice notes
• Antonio Brown didn’t participate in practice Monday, this a day after being removed from the non-football injury list. Raiders coach Jon Gruden will talk to reporters again Tuesday, after having three days off from us.

Burfict once was suspended three games for knocking Brown out with a head shot in their Bengals-Steelers days, but they made peace and the linebacker can’t wait to see the receiver back on the field in Napa.

“It’s pretty cool actually,” Burfict said. “Knowing that we had to double him in Cincinnati and now he’s on my team and I get to watch him make the crazy plays. So it’s exciting. You know, you just want to see the best for him. I can’t wait for him to get back on the field so we can give him some good looks and he can give us some good looks because obviously we need that.”

• Rookie cornerback Trayvon Mullen (wrist), DT Eddie Vanderdoes (concussion), OL Jonathan Cooper (undisclosed), DE Quinton Bell (undisclosed) and DT Ronald Ollie (undisclosed) also didn’t practice. Ollie was working out with the trainer on the side.

• Trent Brown has had a dominating start to camp, and on one play blasted and then buried poor defensive tackle P.J. Hall. Kolton Miller later got the best of Ferrell in one-on-one drills.

• Marcell Ateman had a very nice day, and posed for the cameras after making a nice catch off a fade from Nathan Peterman for a touchdown.

Ateman later had a scary moment, as he was running to the end zone following a catch after the whistle (as a lot of players do). Ateman never saw safety Erik Harris coming and Harris took a violent swing down to jar the ball loose. Harris got mostly wrist (the ball did come loose) and Ateman jogged back to the trainer with his right arm dangling. He didn’t practice again but was seen afterward catching passes, so he appears to be fine.

• The punting competition began and based on having the two best kicks (high and far), the challenger A.J. Cole has the lead on the incumbent Johnny Townsend.