Kaiir Elam doesn’t turn 21 until Thursday.
Yet he played almost 1,000 coverage snaps – 959 to be exact – in his three-year career at the University of Florida.
At his introduction as the Buffalo Bills' new No. 1 draft choice Friday, he didn’t sound like a guy who’s likely to be starstruck or intimidated when he takes the field at cornerback in the NFL.
“I think it’s no argument that the SEC is the best conference in college football,” Elam said, referring to the Southeastern Conference. “Being able to compete at a high level, win key matchups and things like that will help a lot transitioning to the NFL. But everything is about what’s earned here. It’s all about results at the end of the day, no matter what the situation is. I’m just striving to get better each and every day, and striving to learn as much as I can to help implement my game and help amplify the players around me.”
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The list of first-round receivers Elam has faced over the past three seasons at Florida is impressive. It includes the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, the Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle, the Eagles’ DeVonta Smith, the Broncos’ Jerry Jeudy and ex-Raider Henry Ruggs. It includes newly minted Detroit Lion Jameson Williams and Tennessee Titan Treylon Burks, both drafted in the first round Thursday.
Elam struck just the right balance between the kind of bullet-proof confidence an NFL cornerback needs and the humility an NFL rookie must understand in making his way in the pro game.
On the likelihood he will get picked on as the player opposite All-Pro Tre’Davious White, Elam said: “I’m just looking to earn everything I’m given. Being on the island, I’m going to feel confident. But at the end of the day I’m going to have to go prove that I can have an immediate impact in this league. That’s why I’m saying I’m taking the steps right now to strive to get better, to chase self improvement on a daily basis and ultimately help this team win and the long term goal is to win the Super Bowl.”
That answer is right out of Sean McDermott’s “become the best version of yourself” Bills playbook.
On the prospect of taking his lumps going against Stefon Diggs in Bills’ practices, Elam said: “At University of Florida, I got boatloads of NFL receivers I went against every day in practice. You got Van Jefferson, Kyle Pitts, Freddie Swain, Kadarius Toney, the list goes on, a lot of good receivers and tight ends. So, I think going against Diggs and everybody else in the receiver corps and the tight end corps, it's something I look forward to, you know what I'm saying? Pushing those guys, and I'm sure they'll push me back. I don't think it's gonna be a cakewalk, and I don't think it's gonna be too hard, either. I'm confident in myself and my abilities and I can't wait for practice ‘cause I think I'm an ultimate competitor and I'm sure those guys are too. I look forward to it.”
Pitts made the Pro Bowl as a rookie for the Falcons last season. Jefferson plays for the Rams, Toney for the Giants and Swain for the Seahawks.
Elam said his confident mentality is what helps him excel at press coverage.
“First and foremost, I’d say mindset,” Elam said of the key to press coverage. “If you believe you’re going to have a bad day, then it’s going to happen. If you believe you have the ability to stick with this guy and ultimately take the ball away every single rep, then you can do it. So mindset, then I would say trusting your technique. Then having the intangibles to go out there and do it and be able to run with the guys in this league and stop on a dime and things like that. First it’s mindset, then technique, then intangibles at the end of the day.
At 6-foot-1 1/2 and 191 pounds, Elam’s ability to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage and play man-to-man are qualities that should bring a different dimension to the Bills’ No. 2 cornerback position. But he also was asked at Florida to play the outside third of the field in zone coverage and quarters zone coverage.
“I still want to get better at both, you know?” he said of man and zone. “I feel comfortable pressing and my backpedal, I think I'm pretty good at that as well, but, I think I can always improve the little things and my fundamentals each and every day, because once you don't work it, you lose it. So, I'm comfortable at both. But at Florida I was required to play a lot of press man. So, some people can say I probably look better at press than I do off, but I'm comfortable playing both and I'm still eager to learn as much as I can and get better at both, so that's how I would scout myself.”
Elam showed up at his introductory news conference with his dad, Abram, who spent eight seasons as a safety in the NFL, along with his mom, Shayla Davis, and his 11-year-old brother, Aydan, who was sporting a Bills jersey with Kaiir’s new number, 24. (Cornerback Taron Johnson, who wore 24 last year for the Bills, has switched to No. 7.)
Elam said he had a great feeling about Buffalo when he came to town on his top-30 pre-draft visit.
“As soon as I got off the plane, there was something special about Buffalo that I could envision myself playing here and making a lot of plays,” he said. “That’s something I’m going to strive to do, and I think everything happens for a reason and it’s God’s plan for me to be here. I’m trying to take my talent and run with it.”
