Former Florida Gators DB Kaiir Elam having up-and-down training camp with the Buffalo Bills

When the Buffalo Bills selected Kaiir Elam with the 23rd overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, there was obviously hope in Buffalo but also hope among Florida Gators fans that Elam could showcase his skills that seemed to be neutered at times in Gainesville due to defensive scheme.

Elam has had some good plays in camp but hasn’t seemed to fully gain the trust of the Buffalo coaching staff.

Kaiir Elam, top 50 prospect for the Florida Gators

Elam was a top national 50 prospect according to 247 Sports in the high school class of 2019. Recruited out of North Palm Beach, FL, was noted for his physical presence and his ability to press opposing wide receivers.

Elam had a fairly quiet freshman year, playing in eight games. He made eight tackles, three interceptions, and four pass breakups.

Elam saw far more playing time in 2020, making 28 tackles, two more interceptions, and was credited with 11 pass breakups.

But like many Florida Gators defensive backs these last couple of years, it felt like Elam was being held back by the defensive scheme of Todd Grantham. We could pick apart numerous games from the 2020 season, but we’ll focus specifically on the SEC title game vs Alabama.

Elam was routinely asked to play 10-yards off the line of scrimmage as Florida seemed unwilling to challenge Alabama at the point of attack.

Playing your CB 10-yards off is the kind of thing you do when you have a 5-star receiver going against a no-star receiver in high school.

Playing 10-yards off every single play is not the kind of thing you do with a future 1st round NFL draft pick.

What made Elam’s usage even more head scratching is that he made one of the few defensive plays that gave Florida hope in this game.

In the 2nd half and a 4th-and-three play, Elam played close to the line and followed DeVonta Smith on a crossing route to make the tackle and give Florida the ball.

Elam in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills

Even though Elam didn’t have flashy numbers and ended his Florida career with just six interceptions, the NFL still saw the potential for him to play on Sundays.

As mentioned, Buffalo drafted him in the first round with hopes to showcase him in a way Florida didn’t.

And through the first few days of camp, it looked like Elam was making great strides.

Elam was given praise by the Bills for his competitiveness, had multiple pass breakups, and it seemed like camp was going really well.

Then last week word from Bills camp started to trickle that Elam wasn’t quite making the splash he made during week one. Elam was being rotated between the starters and the backups.

Yesterday the Bills released their first unofficial depth chart and Elam was listed as a backup.

Obviously if you are a first round draft pick, the first two weeks of training camp do not define your NFL career. Elam has yet to play a preseason game with the Bills and could find his way back among the starters.

Given the hopes many Florida Gator fans had that Elam was going to be able to spread his wings a bit more in the NFL, it is a bit disappointing to see him struggling.

But we know Elam is a competitive guy and hopefully can work through his early struggles to be mainstay in the NFL.

Keep up with the Florida Gators here.