NFL Draft: Buffalo Bills Pick Florida Gators CB Kaiir Elam in Round 1
The Buffalo Bills have selected Florida Gators cornerback Kaiir Elam with the No. 23 pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Buffalo traded up two spots in order to select Elam, sending their No. 25 and No. 130 (fourth round) overall picks to the Baltimore Ravens.
By selecting Elam, Buffalo addresses a major need in its secondary by adding a ready-to-play corner who should step into the Bills' facility and start opposite two-time All-Pro Tre White at cornerback. Buffalo lost one of its starting corners, Levi Wallace, to the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency this past March.
Standing at 6-foot-1.5, 191 pounds with 30 and 7/8-inch arms, Elam possesses the prototypical size of a press-man cornerback and great athleticism to pair, which he proved this year with a 4.39-second 40-yard dash (83rd percentile among cornerbacks) and a 37.5-inch vertical jump (70th percentile) at the NFL Combine and UF's pro day.
In his three-year Florida career, Elam, the nephew of former Gators safety and 2013 first-round pick Matt Elam, tallied 78 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, five interceptions, 20 defended passes and one fumble recovery, making 26 starts along the way. Elam earned First-Team All-SEC honors for his performance as a sophomore in 2020.
Elam is the fifth Florida cornerback to be selected in the first round in the last 20 years, joining Lito Sheppard (2002, Philadelphia), Joe Haden (2010, Cleveland), Vernon Hargreaves (2016, Tampa Bay) and C.J. Henderson (2020, Jacksonville).
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