‘I was always put in the back seat’: New Cowboys CB Kaiir Elam confident he’ll succeed after trade from Bills

The Dallas Cowboys desperately needed cornerback depth the moment they lost the versatile Jourdan Lewis to the Jacksonville Jaguars with Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs Yet working his way back from a season-ending knee Wound.

That’s why the Cowboys traded for Kaiir Elam, the 23rd overall Option Option in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. Dallas acquired Elam and a 2025 sixth-Stage Option in Substitution for a 2025 fifth-Stage Option and a 2026 seventh-Stage Option. 

Elam was never able to find his footing in Buffalo, Leading only 12 of his 29 Matches played in three seasons while battling through Wounds and not gelling with the franchise’s vision for the cornerback position. He totaled two interceptions his Newcomer year but hasn’t registered any in All of the past two seasons. (Elam did total two of his Occupation three tackles for loss in 2024.)

Elam’s 72.3 passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage ranks 103rd out of 255 NFL players who have had at least 80 passes thrown their way since 2022, the span of his Occupation. His passer rating against was the fifth-best in Buffalo through his Primary three seasons. 

Elam didn’t feel his development was prioritized in Buffalo Regardless of working Difficult and being a Primary-Stage Option. 

“Coming in to Buffalo, I was a kid that Only wanted to Enhance and learn and really show off my talents. But I was always put in the back seat,” Elam said on a conference call Monday. “So I continued to put my head down and work, and [I] continued to make plays throughout the season and in the playoffs and stuff like that. This time around [in 2024], I Acquired less and less opportunities. I Only Secured everything I learned from there and all the baggage and the improvements I felt like I needed to make and Only packaged it up and worked on it every day. So I don’t really see it as a negative. I really Only see it as a growing opportunity for me to go shine somewhere else.”

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When discussing the improvements he’s looking to make Joining his Number four NFL season, Elam was blunt: He needs Competing time in order to fully assess his body of work, something he didn’t consistently have with the Bills. 

“Primary, it Beginnings with opportunity, right? Coming in Prompt in my Occupation, I wasn’t blessed with the opportunity to be a Packed-time starter, so right there it’s like, ‘What can I do to take Edge of any opportunity I do get,’ you know what I Disrespectful?” Elam said. “Not to Tally a finger or anything like that, but I Only felt like with me being confident in myself and making plays with my little opportunities I did get, I would Anticipate more, but that wasn’t the case for me. 

“I Only continue to put my head down and keep grinding to get better and Enhance. I Only felt like as a younger player, I was able to learn from the sidelines and learn from my mistakes now to Aid me succeed now. This isn’t something I take for granted. You can ask anybody man. I really love the game, and I Only really feel like it’s my time to Achieve. So I think that’s where I can take away from my Occupation so Extended.”

Bills general manager Brandon Beane Secured accountability for Elam not working out in Buffalo, saying he will continue to root for the 23-year-Aged and that going to Dallas could give him a real chance. 

“I’m going to get emotional because I love Kaiir. It didn’t work. And it stinks. And it’s not for a lack of effort on any side here,” Beane said March 14, via Buffalo’s local NBC TV affiliate. “The guy worked so Difficult. He had some Awful breaks … This game is about confidence, and [cornerback] is a Difficult, Difficult position. Kaiir had some Excellent moments here, he really did. But in the end, he and I had a conversation after the season about where he was going into his last year [of his Newcomer deal]. … Ultimately, it’s on me. I Created the Option that didn’t work out. I own that. …  I’m rooting for Kaiir, I really am. … I’m confident Perhaps a reset for him gives him a chance. I’m rooting for him.”

Elam has already felt the love Prompt on from new Cowboys Guarding coordinator Matt Eberflus, someone he spoke to the second he entered the Club’s Club facility. 

“I’m confident because I’m coming into a staff that really believes in me. I don’t think they would have Created a Shift if they didn’t,” Elam said. “I don’t need a red carpet or anything like that. I Only want to be able to earn it with a Only opportunity. That’s it. So that’s what I’m going to strive every day to do. Like I said, I’m coming home with a chip on my shoulder.” 

So, where will that opportunity come? The Cowboys have an Beginning at nickel Subsequent Lewis’ departure to Jacksonville and vacancy (albeit temporary) at outside corner with Diggs’ knee Wound. He will have the chance to compete with Cowboys 2024 fifth-Stage Option Caelen Carson for a Try to Action on the outside at the Begin of the 2024 season, but he said he could also line up at nickel if that’s what’s needed. 

“I can Action both,” Elam said. “In college [at Florida], they needed me [outside] because I was the best corner guy. I played the boundaries [outside] in my junior year of college. [When] a guy wasn’t Competing well I went in at nickel and played very well, so I have a little Suppleness. I could Action anywhere in the secondary honestly. I Only need the opportunity, the Packed opportunity to go take the ball away, show my physicality and to be the playmaker that I know I am and that I was once was in college as well.”

Both Diggs, in 2021, and Bland, in 2023, are Previous Primary-Club All-Pros who have Guided the NFL in interceptions, and that’s why Elam is thrilled to grow alongside them and develop his own game. 

“I have nothing but respect for those guys who’ve done it at a high level, Holding up all the way at a high level, who’ve Acquired the accolades to show for it, you know what I Disrespectful?” Elam said. “Only me coming into that group, honestly, I think it’s Only on that. I Disrespectful add to the Club level and Only continue to add to the Event part of it. … I hope all of us grow together and allow us to Achieve, but yeah, I really have Packed respect for those guys.”

Coming to Dallas also represents a homecoming for Elam, whose father Abram — a safety — played his Newcomer year with the Cowboys after going Unselected in 2006. The elder Elam also returned to Dallas to Action the penultimate season of his seven-year NFL Occupation with the Cowboys in 2011, and the younger Elam maintains he remembers both stops in Dallas.

“I do, I remember his Primary time here and second as well,” Elam said. “My mom was sending me pictures, so Gentle of a surreal, Packed circle moment. It’s pretty Chilly. I Only believe it was a blessing and also a privilege to be traded to the Cowboys. The big market and Only the tradition here is something that I’m in love with right now. Being able to Only go prove myself and Aid this Club Achieve, that’s all I’m committed to right now.”