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Javien Elliott settles in with Bucs as hometown deals with hurricane aftermath

Bucs cornerback Javien Elliott, who has taken advantage of opportunities on the field, never has his hurricane-ravaged hometown of Panama City far from his mind
 
Published Dec. 8, 2018

TAMPA — Life on the NFL roster bubble isn't easy, but when you're Bucs cornerback Javien Elliott, you count your blessings for each day that opportunity allows you onto the practice field.

This season alone, the 25-year-old Elliott has gone from the Bucs active roster to being cut, joining the practice squad and then back onto the active roster. Elliott walked onto the Florida State football team and found an NFL home after going undrafted. He's used to fighting for his spot.

"It really makes you who you are," Elliott said. "Tough times are built for tough people."

Even that couldn't prepare him for last month, when Hurricane Michael ripped through his hometown of Panama City as a Category 4 storm — the worst on record to make landfall on the Florida panhandle.

With cell phone service disabled by the storm, it took Elliott days to reach family and friends. He had already seen the images from his hometown, with buildings completely destroyed. His grandmother lost her home. An aunt's house was also damaged.

"Imagine that, you don't know what's going on," Elliott said. "Not only my whole family, but my friends, anybody. You just don't know (how they are). When I got into contact with them, it was just like complete relief."

Elliott hasn't been back to Panama City since the hurricane swept through. He said his family is OK now, bonding together and helping one another, so it's allowed him to focus on football. Elliott admitted he's somewhat anxious to see the destruction first hand.

"They just say it's devastated," Elliott said. "It hits close to home because it is my home, but I still haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I feel like when I do see it it's going to hurt even more on the inside."

Injuries to the Bucs secondary have meant opportunity for Elliott. In last week's win over Carolina, he played 94 percent of the team's defensive snaps. Included in that was his first NFL interception, a play that might have been one of the game's most important.

With the Bucs leading 10-7 and Carolina driving toward the red zone inside two minutes before the half, Elliott picked off Cam Newton and returned it 50 yards to the Carolina 32. That set up a Bucs touchdown and 17-7 halftime lead.

"He came in here as kind of an unheralded guy," Bucs defensive coordinator Mark Duffner said. "He just made noise with his actions."

Elliott played last week's game wearing custom-made "My cleats, my cause" cleats that had his late uncle Cager Wells' Panama City-based outreach ministry, The Heart of Cager Foundation, on one shoe and "Panama City" on the other foot.

Even though Elliott is fighting for playing time every week — hoping to make an impression when he gets the chance — he said the hurricane put his own struggles in perspective.

"It's something that, you know, it makes you think, 'Man, I could have it a lot harder,'" Elliott said. "Because no matter what I'm going through, when I'm looking at what other people are going through back home, sleeping in tents outside of their houses and they have nothing, I can't complain about anything. If anything, I should do my best to help them out back home."

Elliott said he helped with a school supplies drive to aid his old high school, and he participated in the Bucs donation drive for Hurricane Michael victims on Oct. 30 during the same week that he was cut from the roster, added back to the practice squad and went back on the roster.

After playing just six snaps over the first eight weeks of the season, Elliott has seen his role increase. This is his third season with the Bucs, though he's spent a lot of that time moving back and forth between the active roster and the practice squad. But players like Elliott are more important now than ever, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said.

"You better have guys that you've been working with whether it's on and off your roster or guys that have just been hanging in there biding their time on you practice squad," Koetter said. "In a perfect world, your 10 guys on a practice squad are guys that you eventually want to put in a game and that's worked out well for us so far this year."

Elliott played 66 snaps on Sunday, and just three passes were completed against him. He graded out as a 90 overal, the best grade on the Bucs defense. Even as the secondary gets players back from injury, that kind of performance will keep Elliott in the mix for playing time.

"No matter how you got here, it's really what you do when you get here," Elliott said. "You have to build that trust with the coaches and with the teammates and it's all a part of God's plan. He's the reason I'm here today."

Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieInTheYard.