Former Florida cornerback Kaiir Elam opens up on relationship with Bill Parcells

Abram Elam, the father of Buffalo Bills first-round draft choice Kaiir Elam, was lucky enough to find himself as a Dallas Cowboy in 2006, the final year of legendary head coach Bill Parcells’ career. As Kaiir came up in his football career, Parcells naturally took notice and gave him some advice after being selected to a team looking to contend for a Super Bowl.

“[Parcells] was like, ‘These people come to these games on Friday night and tailgate [until Sunday],’” Elam’s father said. Coming from a program like Florida, Elam knows exactly what it means to play for some of the rowdiest fans in the country, but rose to the task early and often.

Elam tallied three interceptions as a true freshman before starting all 12 games in 2020 and posted a team-high 11 pass breakups, along with 39 tackles and two interceptions. His 2020 season earned him first-team All-SEC honors from the SEC coaches. In 2021, Elam missed three games with a knee injury, but recorded 29 tackles, one interception and five pass breakups in the ten games he was able to start.

“I’m very happy that he went to Buffalo, because I know [Bills defensive coordinator] Leslie Frazier, and I spoke with Leslie about Kaiir before the draft a little bit,” Parcells told ESPN. “I just don’t think he could have gone to a better place.”

Growing up just about 30 minutes away from one of the greatest coaching minds in the history of football, Elam had the luxury of picking the brain of a two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach. But that didn’t stop Parcells from critiquing his former player’s son thought his career.

“He doesn’t care if I had the best game of my life,” Elam said of Parcells during his combine meeting with the Bills, according to video on the team’s YouTube channel. “He called me like, ‘You gave him too much cushion. I feel like you could have taken these guys out of bounds.’ Just little things like that to help me achieve my goals right here.”

Now, Elam will be forced to defend passes thrown by those within the loaded AFC quarterback room. As a first-round draft choice, Elam will be taken out of his comfort zone and challenged like never before, but Parcells seems to believe in the player that he watched turn into a superstar in Gainesville.

As a safety precaution, however, Parcells did say he gave a quick call to Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, asking the Pro Bowler to keep an eye on Elam as he gets his feet wet in the NFL.