Bills coaching staff offers ‘clean slate’ to recent first-round pick CB

Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich is offering a "clean slate" to 2022 first-round draft pick Kaiir Elam.

Oct 16, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) embraces Buffalo Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam (24) after the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Kaiir Elam’s NFL career hasn’t gotten off to the start that he—or the Buffalo faithful—anticipated.

Expectations were high for the former Florida Gator after the Bills traded up to select him with the 23rd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft—though not a surefire scheme fit in Buffalo’s zone-heavy defense, many expected that the team would be able to mold the athletic defensive back into a special player, its longterm starter opposite stalwart Tre’Davious White.

This hasn’t been the case through two seasons. He failed to earn an immediate starting role in the Bills’ secondary despite White missing the first several weeks of the 2022 season while rehabbing an ACL tear; he was usurped on the depth chart by fellow rookie Christian Benford, who was selected 162 picks after Elam in the 2022 draft. He would appear in 13 games throughout his rookie year, notching 41 tackles and two interceptions. 

He had a penchant for making opportune splash plays as a rookie—namely his Week 6 interception on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes—but untimely mistakes and penalties prevented him from ever earning the complete trust of the Buffalo coaching staff. An injury would limit him to just three regular-season games throughout the 2023 season, and his peaks-and-valley performances continued when he was pushed into the lineup in the playoffs; he, again, was inconsistent, but came up with big plays when needed, tallying an interception in the team’s Wild Card round playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Elam would be the first to tell you that his career hasn’t commenced exactly as he would’ve liked, but it’s too early to write the 23-year-old off entirely. There’s too much natural talent and ability within the defender to cast aside after just 16 regular season games. This sentiment appears to be one shared by Buffalo’s defensive coaching staff; while speaking to reporters last week, new defensive coordinator Bobby Babich spoke about Elam, implying that his past struggles have no bearing on his current standing.

“Kaiir, literally, the same way I go about my business—the only thing we’ve asked him is to go rep by rep, drill by drill, minute by minute,” Babich said. “Clean slate for Kaiir. Working extremely hard, like all of our players there are a lot of moments of growth, and there are moments of adversity in what you’re doing or scheme execution where you need to get better at certain things. And that’s everybody on our defense, but he’s working extremely hard. 

“I think his mindset is where it needs to be, and [cornerbacks] Coach [Jahmile] Addae [and safeties] Coach [Joe] Danna, they’re doing a great job honing in on the little things with him where we know he needs to improve, literally minute by minute, drill by drill. We’re not trying to go big scope, we’re trying to focus in on certain things.”

Elam, while not projecting as a starter for the Bills ahead of his third season, is still penciled into a rather important role as the team’s primary depth cornerback behind Benford and Rasul Douglas—he’s one injury, one snap, away from being thrust into a starting spot. If he’s able to take advantage of the “clean slate” afforded to him by Buffalo’s coaching staff and re-earn its trust, he could reach the heights formerly expected of him should he receive the opportunity.