Film Breakdown: Florida Cornerback Kaiir Elam Has All the Traits Necessary to Succeed in the NFL

The 20-year-old would fit well in Cincinnati.

Author:
Mike Santagata
Publish date:
Apr 4, 2022 8:14 AM EDT

Kaiir Elam is a tall, athletic cornerback that uses his size well. He was a three-year starter at the University of Florida where he played a variety of coverages from all over the field. He is a former three sport athlete with football, baseball, and track and it shows on the field. He plays with length, athleticism, and intelligence to take away his side of the field in coverage.

What He Does Well

Sep 18, 2021; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators safety Kaiir Elam (5) against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports — Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

He stays low and maintains a proper cushion to mirror releases in press coverage. This allows for him to stick tight to receivers through the release point and to play with proper positional maintenance during the route. He does a good job of playing to his help. His patience to keep this cushion and mirror the release is a big reason why he has success in that area.

Elam uses his length very well and has a variety of techniques to utilize when jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage. He can change things up to keep the receiver on their toes while still being able to put one or two hands into their chest to disrupt the timing of the route.

He squeezes outside releases and uses the sideline to his advantage. He does a great job of playing physically and trying to force the receiver to run within a few yards of the sideline on an outside release.

Smooth hips to quickly turn while moving down the field. His hips will get him out of some sticky situations where he is initially beaten.

Good ball skills for a cornerback with the ability to track the ball to find it down the field and play through the hands of the receiver to break up passes.

Processes information quickly when playing off zone or match coverages. He will quickly diagnose shallow routes and get into the window of the corner route coming from the slot.

Areas of Concern

USATSI_16691969_168390307_lowres — © Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Similar to a plethora of other cornerbacks that excel at press jam coverage, he is unnecessarily grabby at the break point of a route. This will lead to some penalties early in his career. His coaching staff needs to correct that. This is his main issue in coverage.

Takes bad angles and often misses tackles. He’s not unwilling to make tackles, but he does not live for contact either. He rarely tries to wrap up the legs of the ball carrier and also does not drive his feet often even if he does.

Quick, twitchy receivers can give him issues both at the break point and with the ability to stack him vertically. If a player can explode off of the line of scrimmage, he can be in some trouble unless he is able to cleanly jam them. If they’re extremely quick at the break point, there are times where he will grab or lose them.

Overall Thoughts

Elam has a lot of the desired traits and measurables that an NFL team looks for in a cornerback.

Everything he does starts with his low to the ground stance in press coverage. He prepares himself well for the play by getting low, keeping positive shin angles, hands at the ready, a flat back, and his eyes up through the receiver. He is sticky in man coverage and will give receivers issues through the release, break, and catch point.

His pad level, physicality, and variety of techniques at the line of scrimmage give him a toolset to disrupt the timing of routes. He plays with great positional maintenance to squeeze routes to the sideline or take away the outside and play to his help depending on the release. He has the desired size to be left on an island against some of the larger receivers in the NFL and the ball skills to play through the hands of the receiver to break up passes. He may have some struggles against very quick route runners and could be protected early against them although he shut down Jameson Williams and John Metchie when they played against Alabama. He also needs to clean up some of the grabbing that he will do down the field because officials are less lenient in the NFL about that, but overall he looks like he could become a very good press-man corner.

Elam possesses the intelligence and quick processing speed to play fast in zone coverage. He will quickly close on throws and, with his ball skills, can often break up those passes. He still plays physical in zone or off coverage to reroute a receiver working down the field. Sometimes he gets high in his backpedal or in bail when playing off. Would like to see him stick lower to the ground while playing these techniques. He definitely has the capability to do so based off of his press technique. With all of that said he really needs some work in the run game as well. He takes bad angles when trying to tackle players, does not utilize proper form when making a tackle, and does not do a great job to come off of blocks to get involved in the run game.

Scheme Fit

Elam is versatile enough to play in any coverage system although I think he is at his best when he is playing press man coverage and allowed to really get his hands on the receiver. With that said, he will need to clean up some of his tendencies to grab receivers when playing man coverage and I would not use him as a force player in the run game due to his tackling.

Grade

Mid First Round

NFL Comparison

Quentin Jammer

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