Thing is, he had a really good pre-season so we thought he may have worked his way up the depth chart. But it looks as though his place on the depth chart is backup Outside DB, whereas they are seeing Ingram as more versatile - able to play dime, nickel etc and, in fact, used him in that role.
It could be that if Elam masters outside corner, they will start working him in at nickel or dime, but here's my issue with that: to play in the box, smaller guys have to really be willing to hit hard. The "F = ma" equation means, less mass, need more acceleration to get 'er done. Elam just doesn't seem like that guy who is willing to sacrifice his body to tackle Derrick Henry or similar
This is it, with the added proviso that it may be, as others have said, that when Ingram came in, he played nickel while Lewis played dime.
Either way, your point stands - Elam has not been getting any looks at nickel or dime. Set the kid up for success, don't throw him in the blender and watch him whirl