The Buffalo Bills are somewhat back in the news, but not in the way that you would expect. During the first week of free agency, the Bills somehow pulled off a trade that would send cornerback Kaiir Elam to the Dallas Cowboys. Buffalo managed to get back a couple of draft picks as well. Consider that a slam dunk win for Beane for making that move.
Just to show you how Elam’s tenure went in Buffalo, he only had 12 starts in three years. That averaging just four starts per season. As a former first round pick, that is completely unacceptable.
To makes things worse on the Bills drafting Elam, they traded up for him after the Chiefs jumped ahead of Buffalo to draft star cornerback Trent McDuffie. Drafting Elam was one of Beane’s biggest misses.
The writing was on the wall that Elam and the Bills needed to part ways. Buffalo needed to admit their mistake and Elam needed a new fresh start. Now both sides are moving on, but Elam didn’t move on without taking a bit of a shot at the Bills when he met with the media down in Dallas.
Kaiir Elam took a bit of a shot at the Bills
According to Jon Machota, Elam was asked about why things didn’t work out in Buffalo. Elam talked about how coming to Buffalo, all he wanted to do what was “show off his talents” but he said he “was always placed in the back seat.”
New Cowboys CB Kaiir Elam on why things didn't work out in Buffalo and his expectations going forward:
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) March 17, 2025
"Coming to Buffalo, I was a kid that just wanted to improve and learn and really show off my talents. But I was always put in the back seat. I continued to put my head down and…
Being placed in the back seat, and putting yourself there are two different things. No one could ever question Elam’s effort because it wasn’t a lack of trying. It just simply was not the right scheme for him and he was more of a liability than an asset. If you watched the AFC championship game, you could see Elam heavily struggling against players like DeAndre Hopkins and even JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Once Christian Benford was ruled out with a head injury, Buffalo’s secondary was in major trouble and Bills fans were going to have to put trust in Elam. The only problem is that there was no trust.
This pairing was bound to end sooner than later. It just simply didn’t work out and now both sides benefit from the breakup. Elam gets to try to rebound his career in Dallas while the Bills managed to bring in some draft picks with trading Elam away.