Kaiir Elam ( ; born May 5, 2001) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and was drafted by the Bills in the first round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early life and high school

Elam grew up in

Riviera Beach, Florida Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to ...

, and attended

The Benjamin School The Benjamin School is a coeducational, college-preparatory independent school with two campuses in Palm Beach County, Florida. It serves 1,284 students in pre-K 3 through twelfth grade. It is accredited by the Florida Council of Independent ...

, where he played basketball, football, and ran track. As a senior, he recorded 71 tackles, three sacks and nine interceptions and was named the Palm Beach 5A-1A football defensive player of the year. Elam was rated the fourth best high school football prospect of his class by ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'' and committed to play college football at Florida.

College career

As a true freshman Elam played in all 13 of the Gators' games and made five starts, recording 11 tackles, three interceptions and four additional passes broken up and was named to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) All-Freshman Team. Elam entered his sophomore season on the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom ...

watchlist and was named preseason second-team All-SEC. On January 10, 2022, Elam declared for the

Professional career

The

drafted Elam in the first round with the 23rd pick in the draft, trading up from 25th overall with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

to make the selection. Elam marks the fourth straight defensive player the Bills have selected with a first round pick, following

Gregory Rousseau Gregory Rousseau (born April 5, 2000) is an American football defensive end for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami Hurricanes football, Miami. As a Redshirt (college sports), redshirt fre ...

in 2021. He made his NFL debut in Week 1 against the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

. He recorded his first professional interception off

Kenny Pickett Kenneth Shane Pickett (born June 6, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Pittsburgh, where he won the Johnny Unitas Golden Ar ...

in Week 5 against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

in the 38-3 win. He finished his rookie season with 41 total tackles, two interceptions, and four passes defensed in 13 games. On November 2, 2023, Elam was placed on injured reserve.

Personal life

Elam's father,

Abram Elam Abram Elam (born October 15, 1981) is a former American football safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame and ...

, played college football at Kent State and in the NFL for seven seasons. His uncle,

Matt Elam Matthew D. Elam (born September 21, 1991) is an American football safety for the Orlando Guardians of the XFL. He played college football at Florida, where he earned All-American honors. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first roun ...

, also played football at Florida and was a first round selection in the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. Matt Elam currently plays for the

Orlando Guardians The Orlando Guardians are a professional American football team based in Orlando, Florida. The team was founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL. The Guardians played their home games at MetLife ...

of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bioFlorida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elam, Kaiir Living people American football cornerbacks Florida Gators football players People from Riviera Beach, Florida Players of American football from Palm Beach County, Florida African-American players of American football 2001 births 21st-century African-American sportspeople Buffalo Bills players