Buffalo Bills trade up for Florida defensive back Kaiir Elam in 2022 NFL Draft

With the No. 23 overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Florida defensive back Kaiir Elam. The Bills selected him to help bolster their secondary with a player who could be a starter very quickly at the pro level.

Elam is the nephew of former Florida and NFL safety Matt Elam, who was drafted by the Ravens in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Kaiir Elam impressed early for the Gators with three interceptions as a true freshman. Elam then started 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.

Elam was a former four-star recruit according to the On3 Consensus rankings, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. He played high school football at The Benjamin School in Florida, where he transformed himself as a player. His father, Abram Elam, played at Notre Dame and Kent State before playing seven years in the NFL himself.

According to his father, Elam wasn’t the player Florida Gators fans know when he started playing. “He was one of the worst players on the football team his freshman year,” his father told the Athletic. But then Elam started putting in the work to be the best he can be. By the time he graduated from high school, he was a top-100 recruit and Florida commit.

The On3 Consensus rankings put Elam as the sixth-highest ranked cornerback of the 2019 recruiting class, and the eighth-overall player from the state of Florida.

What NFL draft analysts are saying about Kaiir Elam

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein highlighted the promise that Elam offers to a team that selects him this year, but noted that his 2021 season lacked the impact it could have had on his draft potential. Zierlein noted that at least one NFL scout was aware of his 2021 season being sub-par, but that he should be fine at the NFL level.

“Elam is the next up in a long line of talented Florida cornerbacks, but he failed to play his best football in his final collegiate season,” said Zierlein. “He is patient and strong to mirror and impede releases but inconsistent staying connected to the early stages of the route. He plays with good awareness in zone and has the twitch and length to make plays on the throw when squatting in space. He was beat on deep patterns against Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia, which might have led to excessive grabbing and an overall lack of trust in his technique on the 2021 tape. He plays big at the catch point but smaller in run support. Elam has early CB3 and eventual CB2 value as a press and zone corner.”