Steelers NFL Draft Scouting Report: Florida CB Kaiir Elam
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be looking at both sides of the ball with their first-round pick, and Florida cornerback Kaiir Elam is certainly an option.
A multi-sport high school athlete before committing to the University of Florida over several other power 5 schools, Elam went on to have a productive career for the Gators. While trying to follow up his First-Team All-SEC selection in 2020, he unfortunately suffered a knee injury during the Alabama game last season causing him to miss several contests to follow. After working his way back into the lineup, Elam decided to forgo the his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2022 NFL Draft.
A near consensus top-50 player on all of the major big boards before a nice showing at the NFL combine, Elam has seen his stock on the rise in recent weeks. He announced to the media in Indianapolis that he met with the Steelers formally early in the week.
Taking a deep dive into his film, let's see where his strengths and weaknesses are, and where Elam can potentially fit with the Steelers.
Profile
Kaiir Elam (Florida)
- Height- 6'1 1/2"
- Weight- 191 pounds
- Arm- 30.875 inches
- Hand- 8.875 inches
- 40- 4.39 seconds
Strengths
- Quick, light feet to mirror in press coverage
- Displays patience and stays square to receivers to avoid opening the gate too early
- Impressive hip fluidity for a taller cornerback
- Can trigger downhill in a hurry when in aligning in off coverage
- Understands how to use his length, both in coverage and to close throwing windows
- Uses the sideline as an extra defender
- Head fakes and double moves rarely effect him
- Generally locates and finds the football in the air with solid ball skills
- Took premier matchups personally (Jameson Williams)
- Lots of experience working in man to man coverage on an island
- NFL bloodlines, father (Abram) and uncle (Matt) both played at the NFL level
Weaknesses
- Burners give him trouble as he's stacked too easily along the vertical plane
- Deep speed doesn't match the blazing 40 time he ran in Indianapolis
- Recovery speed is just adequate leading to some big plays down the field
- Physicality as a run support player isn't always there -Needs to be a more in control, consistent wrap-up tackler
- Overall snap to snap consistency, focus is a concern as he's not always locked in
- Can be a bit grabby throughout routes at times, seven penalties in 2021
Film
This first play is an example of Elam in his element: press coverage against the opposing team's best receiver.
This is where he's at his best. You see the patience at the line of scrimmage and he's careful to not open his hips up too early. Once Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams takes the outside release, Elam is able to stay on top of that inside shoulder with his right arm extended towards the receiver.
Once he feels Williams throttling down for the curl route, he's able to plant and drive while locating the football for the pass breakup.
Same matchup here with Elam in press coverage against the speedy Williams. The play design here plays out like a fake screen to the back with Williams acting like he's going to block. Instead, Elam is disciplined enough here to not take the bait and remain patient.
Once again, Elam does a good job staying on that upfield shoulder. He knows that he can't run step for step with Williams who's a legit 4.3 guy. Instead, he does a nice job cutting off his space and leaning on the receiver to force him to the sideline which acts as another defender.
Same game but on this rep, Elam draws John Metchie - a different style of receiver who's more of a route running technician rather than a pure burner.
Elam has press coverage at the line of scrimmage, mirroring the receiver until he decides on a release path. He's in great position here to make a play on the ball. Metchie uses his left arm to initiate a "throwby" move on the curl route, when he extends that arm, Elam ends up pulling the receiver by the shoulder which gets the attention of the referee.
Is it grabby? Yes. But plays like this illustrate why it's so difficult to play the position as they let offensive players get away with far more. This was one of Elam's seven penalties last season.
Elam is playing the deep third in a cover 3 shell on third and long here against Alabama. With Bryce Young being flushed out of the pocket to his side, Metchie runs a curl route to the sticks.
On this play, you can see Elam's ability to trigger and then drive on the football as he is able to get his hand in the passing line to break it up.
Even if he's not able to knock away the football, he's got his left arm around Metchie's waist and right arm around his shoulder for the tackle short of the marker.
This next rep is just something that I noticed over the course of his 2020 and 2021 film. Elam isn't lazy or frequently lacking effort but there are enough plays throughout his tape where you worry a little a bit about his engagement levels.
There was no George Pickens in this game, which is notable, but this play was an example of him just not being all the way dialed in. Not really running full speed to the ball, no attempt to make the touchdown-saving tackle.
That's something that looks ugly on in the film room session the following week.
While it's not where he makes his money, Elam is pretty comfortable in off alignments.
LSU is near their own end zone, looking for a splash play on the stop and go double move. Using a bail technique, his eyes aren't fooled here and he stays on top of this route beautifully. He begins to lean on the receiver to get a feel for him before realizing this is just a poorly thrown football. He's in such good position that this pass actually looks like he was the targeted receiver.
The only even slight downfall to this play was that he couldn't come away with the interception but the receiver does shove him in the back, potentially causing him to lose his balance at the end.
One of my favorite reps that we saw from Elam was in the 2020 season opener against Ole Miss. Down in the red zone, Elam is going to be aligned in press coverage and attempt to get his hands on the receiver early, a nice change up to his usual mirror technique. Dontario Drummond takes an outside release and begins to look back for the football on the back shoulder fade.
When the receiver turns to the quarterback, Elam recognizes what's coming and gets his eyes around to the football. He's able to locate the ball and play through the receivers hands for the pass breakup.
NFL quarterback/receiver tandems eat cornerbacks alive on these plays at the next level and the fact that Elam has shown the ability to play these in the air already at a young age is impressive.
Another rep from Elam inside the red zone but this time he's matched up with a tight end.
This was a great example of him maintaining outside leverage knowing his help, the middle of the field safety, has his back on the inside. The tight end isn't able to create space with his body at the top of his route due to Elam's play strength. He's able to slide underneath him and shrink this space down to an extremely tight throwing window.
Elam has the body type to be a plus defender near the goal line as he has proven that he can hold his own in man coverage against multiple different styles of receivers and tight ends.
Elam is going to go for a two handed jam on the receiver in press coverage here and it gets him into a bit of trouble as the receiver takes the contact and dips underneath him.
He needs to do a little better job staying balanced and avoid lunging so much when trying to get his hands on guys at the line. On this rep in particular, he does a decent job getting himself back into the play but you can see that the recovery speed is just adequate.
It's not special enough to where he can get himself back into plays after mistimed jams at the line of missteps with his feet. This just means that he'll have a little less margin for error at the next level when facing better athletes.
Elam spent a little more time in the slot as a junior than he had in previous seasons during his time in Gainesville.
He's able to re-route this receiver inside by using his length. When the receiver breaks outside, it really shows how impressive and fluid his hips are for a taller cornerback. He's easily able to flip and rotate his hips in different directions without losing much speed, allowing for little separation by the receiver.
This isn't where he's going to find himself often at the next level, but it's comforting to know that he has at least a little experience working inside previously.
You don't question Elam's desire to come down and makes tackles at the cornerback position but he certainly has work to do in order to improve as a tackler.
Most of his inconsistencies as a tackler comes down to him being out of control as he approaches the ball carrier. Florida is employing a cover 3 shell down near the end here and Elam recognizes this dump off to Brian Robinson quickly. He even does a nice job attacking his outside half to force Robinson back towards his help.
The issue is how hot he comes down in pursuit as he can't fully break down and get in position to make the stop and ends up diving at his legs instead. Robinson is one of the toughest collegiate ball carriers to get on the turf but the NFL has a lot of those guys, as well.
Fit
Elam is a Day 1 press corner at the NFL level who can contribute immediately. In order to get the most out of the Florida star, you have to let him do his thing at the line of scrimmage where he can use his quick, quiet feet to mirror receivers.
He's a competent and capable player in zone coverages and can functions there as well. A confident player who's really yet to scratch the ceiling of his potential, and doesn't turn 21 until May.
He's had almost two years worth of success in the SEC full of NFL-caliber receivers and that should make for an easier transition to the pros.
Blazing fast receivers will likely give him trouble at the next level and he'll require some safety help with those matchups if he's in press coverage.
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