Bills rookie corner Kaiir Elam doesn’t plan to play like one

By Henry McKenna
FOX Sports AFC East Writer

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has a habit of calling every first-year player a “stupid rookie.” The rookies don’t love it. But Allen persists.

Receiver Khalil Shakir? Stupid rookie.

Cornerback Kaiir Elam? Stupid rookie.

“All rookies are stupid rookies until proven otherwise,” Allen said during a press conference on Thursday. “I called Kaiir 24 [his jersey number] yesterday, and he said some stuff about it, so I went right back to stupid rookie, and he’s not too happy with that.”

You can’t blame Elam. Of course, he is a rookie in a literal sense. But the Bills’ defensive coaching staff hasn’t necessarily been treating him like a rookie. 

Buffalo traded up two spots in the 2022 NFL Draft to select Elam at 23rd overall. He joined the team with a unique blend of size (6-foot-2, 190 pounds), speed (4.39 40-yard dash) and agility (6.98-second 3-cone drill). He is as athletically well-rounded as cornerbacks come, possessing the measurables — at least on paper — to cover the gamut of small to tall and quick to fast receivers.  

So the Bills have put Elam to the test. They haven’t thrown him in the deep end so much as they’ve marooned him on Elam island to see if he can survive.

“I don’t like to be called a rookie,” Elam told reporters on Aug. 1. “I just like to be called however I perform. I am a rookie technically, but my mindset is that I’m ready when my number is called.”

He added: “When I first got to the University of Florida, I didn’t think of myself as a freshman. I always thought of myself as preparing to start and preparing to be elite. That’s my same mindset here.”

Top cornerback Tre’Davious White is recovering from the ACL injury he suffered on Thanksgiving. Levi Wallace, who served as the team’s CB2 for most of 2021, signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason. With the position in flux, the Bills have experimented with Elam as the team’s top cornerback. And if you haven’t heard, the Bills have one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. 

“He’s getting me so much better,” Elam said of Allen. “I can’t afford a false step or bad eyes or just like bad leverage because he’s going to take advantage of it. He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Buffalo also boasts one of the NFL’s best receivers in Stefon Diggs. He has tested Elam, too.

“We have the same kind of personality. We just want to win — not even a game [but] every rep,” Elam said. “I feel like this is an elite group of receivers. … At the end of the day, I really respect these guys because outside the white lines, they’re really humble. They try to help me and elevate my game. I couldn’t be more grateful for those guys.”

The Bills seem to have a cast of potential breakout receivers behind Diggs. Gabriel Davis is working tirelessly to earn the WR2 spot, and he’s on track to see a major promotion. Slot receiver Isaiah McKenzie is trying to fend off Shakir and veteran Jamison Crowder.

Perhaps because of the depth and talent at receiver, Elam hasn’t been consistently brilliant in camp. In fact, he might even be slipping in the competition with third-year cornerback Dane Jackson and fellow rookie Christian Benford, a sixth-round pick who has been surprisingly relevant in the competition for CB1 in the absence of White. 

Jackson ascended to get more first-team reps over Elam and Benford for a period on Monday. But given how often teams rotate defensive backs in camp, there’s no saying whether that was one-off experimentation or a signal of Elam’s legitimate demotion. In the early days of camp, he was running with Diggs. Few cornerbacks look good when they’re covering Diggs, who finished 2021 with 103 catches, 1,225 yards and 10 touchdowns. 

Elam had his fair share of struggles.

“It’s way better than college,” he said with a laugh. “Josh is elite. Stefon is elite. Gabe is elite. Isaiah is elite. … There’s no time for slipups and late movements and false steps, so I think that’s really the biggest difference from college.”

There’s no doubt the Bills drafted Elam to line up alongside White, whose $69 million contract ties him to the team through 2025, to help solidify the secondary and keep the Bills among the best defenses in the NFL. If the young cornerback can learn and develop quickly, Elam will be an instant boon to Buffalo.

And no one will be calling him a stupid rookie.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.