How Will Former Gators CB Kaiir Elam Fit Into the Bills' Defense?
The Buffalo Bills are hungry for playoff success, and their first-round pick shows it.
The marriage between former Florida Gators cornerback Kaiir Elam and the Bills is a match made in Heaven as Buffalo attempts to put a bow on an already Super Bowl contending roster.
Going into next season, there is arguably no other team in the AFC as prepared to make a run for the conference as the Bills.
Having been through multiple reconstruction efforts since the mid-1990s, Buffalo has been searching for answers in multiple categories for quite some time.
Buffalo began finding success in recent years, building an elite offense with young star power anchoring the team for the future.
Acquiring the likes of Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis and Dawson Knox through the draft, free agency or trade, the Bills' propensity to score has become well-known, especially through the air. Their offense ranked fifth in yards and third in points per game a season ago.
Likewise, the Bills' defense ranked among the best in the league as well. They finished the year as the top-ranked team in terms of yards and points per contest allowed at just 272.8 and 17 respectively.
However, a playoff bout in Arrowhead Stadium exposed a major weakness that they immediately had to address.
Since the season disappointingly ended for the Bills in an unprecedented back-and-forth affair with the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round, fans have clamored for a viable fix at the cornerback position opposite Tre’Davious White.
A large portion of that noise is reactionary of the overtime loss to the Chiefs that saw multiple big plays through the air in the final seconds of regulation end the Bills' hopes of an AFC Championship Berth. Another catalyst was the departure of starter Levi Wallace to free agency this offseason.
General manager Brandon Beane heard the calls to acquire a talented coverage man, and did so.
Elam — who remained as the final player on Buffalo’s board to have a first-round grade at the time of his selection — received the call from the Bills as they traded up two spots with the Arizona Cardinals to acquire the three-year starter from the University of Florida.
Serving as a far side man-to-man cornerback in the Florida Gators system for the majority of his 30-game collegiate career, Elam essentially eliminates one side of the field for opposing offenses.
Showcasing desirable length, speed, athleticism and press coverage abilities, the 6-foot-1 1/2, 191-pound cornerback totaled 78 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, five interceptions, 20 pass breakups and one fumble recovery.
His intangibles and production bode well for a smooth elevation to the league.
The North Palm Beach (Fla.) native is going to step into Sean McDermott’s defensive system and provide the Bills with two lockdown cornerbacks to contain the explosive firepower the AFC contains.
Lining up opposite White with Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer aligning in the backend, quarterbacks will have to pick their poison when targeting the daunting Bills secondary going forward.
The Elam pick has the potential to equip the Bills with, arguably, the best secondary the NFL has to offer. More importantly for the former Gator, he lands in a situation where talent is plentiful, meaning he will be given adequate aid as he transitions from the college to pro level.
The Bills expect Elam to become another cornerstone to a defense that will be the key factor to pushing Buffalo over the hump in their search for a ring in the coming years.
His qualifications and ambition — which were shown when he begged the Bills to “put the playbook on the plane” during the notification call that they were drafting him — suggest that he could elevate the squad to unforeseen heights sooner rather than later.
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