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Kaiir Elam fired up to join the Buffalo Bills: ‘I told ‘em to put the playbook on the plane’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Kaiir Elam is excited to get to work with the Buffalo Bills, who traded up from No. 25 to 23 after a trade with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Florida cornerback filled a position of need for the Bills, which general manager Brandon Beane referred to with reporters Thursday night.
“Obviously, I’ve been hearing it loud and clear that we don’t have a corner from every single one of you,” Beane joked. “Neighbors, kids, everyone, so we’ll all sleep good tonight that we got a corner.”
Elam impressed Beane and the Bills in pre-draft interviews when he asked why former LSU star Tre’Davious White is successful with the Bills.
Elam has an NFL pedigree as his father is former NFL defensive back Abram Elam, who had 71 starts in 101 games with 4 teams split over a seven-year career that ended in 2012 with Kansas City, the Associated Press noted. His uncle is Matt Elam, a former first-round pick who had 26 starts in 41 games with Baltimore from 2013-16.
“I told them to put the playbook on the plane,” Elam told reporters Thursday night. “I’m trying to learn as much as I can right away and just get better and contribute to the team and try to strive for immediate impact right away.”
“I told ‘em to put the playbook on the plane.” — Kaiir Elam is ready to learn 📚
— katherine fitzgerald (@kfitz134) April 29, 2022
Brandon Beane on Kaiir Elam: “First off, he plays in the SEC which is the closest thing to our level. … We think he’s got a high ceiling. … He’s got a lot of things that he does well. He’s a bigger, longer guy, he’s got speed.”
— katherine fitzgerald (@kfitz134) April 29, 2022
Along with playing in the SEC, Elam is listed at 6-foot-1 and 191 pounds, and has NFL speed.
“We had had good grade on Kaiir, and we were down to one player in the first round on our board, and so at that point, it just made sense,” Beane said. “We’re not sure what those teams ahead of us would have taken, but there was a lot of trade action going on too. It just felt like it was within striking distance.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
