RD 1, Pick 23: CB Kaiir Elam, Florida

[Solomon Grundy]

11 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

You could tell the cowboys were planning to take him. Jerry looked  pissed and then they took the entire 15 minutes to make their pick 

I thought so too Yolo. Elam's father was a former Cowboy. CB should be a need for them and would've been a good storyline for Jerry. 

[Bill from NYC]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Put fitty cents down on the Buckeyes for me 

Lol 10 dollar minimum. 

[ArtVandalay]

2 hours ago, mannc said:

Don't get me wrong...I like the pick a lot...just not convinced that the move up was necessary.

Yeah it's always hard to tell with short jumps, but one of two things is true...

 

A - With only 1 first round player left as he claimed Beane got itchy and has paper hands, jumped up to get his guy. 

 

B - They legitimately think very highly of this kid not just as a typical first rounder and had info they considered potentially true that Dallas or another team (via trade) would take him.

 

Either way they gave up a 4th, ho hum. If he pans out and becomes a good starter no one cares. 

[Saint Doug]

19 hours ago, Warcodered said:

 

Hope this finally destroys the notion of Best Player Available. The fact that so many trades occur in the 1st round should’ve done this, but Beane has come out and clearly said it. 

[JoeF]

When your first words to the team owner upon being drafted are "Put the Playbook on the Plane".....you win the heart of this Bills fan.

 

Go get 'em young man!

[Aussie Joe]

2 minutes ago, Saint Doug said:

Hope this finally destroys the notion of Best Player Available. The fact that so many trades occur in the 1st round should’ve done this, but Beane has come out and clearly said it. 

Look I don’t disagree that need plays a part… but Beane also said that he was the only Round 1 grade left on the board so doesn’t that mean he was BPA..

[John from Riverside]

Gabe Davis "out catching footballs right after he was drafted"

Elam "put the playbook on the plane"

[Success]

I'm so stoked to see this guy play. 

 

We're going to have an amazing secondary.

 

[Zona]

23 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Look I don’t disagree that need plays a part… but Beane also said that he was the only Round 1 grade left on the board so doesn’t that mean he was BPA..

I would say that he is both. 

[Ecmic82]

19 hours ago, K-9 said:

Good take. Some people here are only focused on Dallas as the team we jumped in front of, but that’s myopic at best. These GMs aren’t shy about telling each other who’s calling who with what offers. Beane may or may not have been concerned with Dallas, but there were other teams on the phone with the Ravens inquiring about pick 23 I guarantee it. And I think your hunch about the Titans is spot on.

The Titans taking a CB at 34 is more evidence that the Bills might’ve traded up in order to prevent the Titans from stealing Elam away.

[Warcodered]

 

[Gambit]

 

 

[Big Blitz]

 

[YoloinOhio]

21 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

 

This is so Buffalo 😆

[I Am The Liquor]

I feel like this is more Buffalo

[NewEra]

9 hours ago, Doc said:

 

The 4th only would have allowed them to move up 4 spots in the 2nd and 8 spots in the 3rd.  If there's a guy they want that badly in either of those rounds, trade a 2023 draft pick in a package.  And no one knows who would have done what had the Ravens traded him to someone else, or if the Cowboys would have taken him (I think they would have and Beane knew it).  But it was still worth spending if it meant ensuring getting a need who was also BPA.

Trading up 4 spots would’ve been amazing right here….but noooooooo.  🤣 

[boater]

Kaiir didn't attend just any old Sabres game. With Josh Allen as company, he attended RJ's Last Call and Fan Appreciation Night. The game was epic and so was RJ's Last Call and the good byes that he expressed. Congratulations to Casey Mittelstadt for his OT goal.

 

Thanks Kaiir for integrating so quickly into the Buffalo community. Thanks for asking for that playbook so quickly. You're going to do just fine here.

[John from Riverside]

8 hours ago, Gambit said:

 

 

Don’t stand up Josh we need him to look tall

[Zerovoltz]

19 hours ago, ddaryl said:

 

 

Every team knows the Bills would be looking hard at CBs and you have to assume some teams would be willing to jump in front of Buffalo to grab the last CB with a 1st rd grade. 

Bills were calling teams starting at pick #20 from what i understand, before they found their partner at #23. If they sat back and watch another team trade with Dallas they would of probably regretted it. So they made the move to get a guy they had ranked as a 1st rd talent at a position where teams were gobbling up the position.

It would be nice to still have the 4th, but not sure it would of been worth it as our need for a solid CB#2 was well known need.



 

 

This is very interesting.

 

I don't think they were calling to get to 20 for Elam.

 

Here is why:

 

IF the Bills had Elam as the best rated DB on their board, it seems strange they'd be worried about going up for him when McDuffie was still available.  The reason being, McDuffie has been rated higher and been mocked higher than McDuffie throughout the scouting and draft process.  Many mocks had him as a top 15 pick..and some even had him inside the top 10.  Some ranking had him ranked ahead of Stinglely.  Elams has never been mocked that high and never shows up in any scouting services, any big board etc as a top 15 pick.  The highest I saw him was 17th.  Generally he's been a guy slated in the 28-34 range.  

 

Even if the Bills had Elam ranked higher than McDuffie (possible..we'll never know) then it would still be reasonable to think that most teams probably had McDuffie higher and that he'd be drafted before Elam, by some team just making their pick or by a team moving up.  Veach specifically saying that KC moved to 21 to get ahead of Buffalo suggests  (but isn't proof) that the Bills were trying manuever to get McDuffie.  Veach clearly had reason to think that McDuffie was the Bills target.  It's a fact that KC took McDuffie...so KC wasn't trying to move up to 21 because they were concerned Elam wouldn't be there. 

 

Given that McDuffie had been ranked appreciably higher by available sources, it doesn't seem like Elam was the guy the Bills were coveting when making calls to move up to as high as 20.    

 

That isn't to take away from Elam at all.  If KC couldn't make a trade...or if McDuffie was off the board at 15 or whatever and KC was sitting at 29..and the Bills at 25, also are still looking at him as the high end, round 1 talent that he is...that there is still a manuever by KC, the Bills or another team, to try and get him.  I'm not knocking the player or the pick.  I just don't think Elam was higher on the Bills board.  I do believe that they absolutely saw him/see him as a round 1, high end prospect worth securing with a high pick.  Elam was a guy KC fans often would disucss as a real possibility at 29/30 and was a popular guy to mock to KC there.  KC fans would have been happy to have ended up with him for all the same reasons you guys are glad to have him.

 

 

 

16 hours ago, Logic said:

I had forgotten that Cowboys presumed CB2 Kelvin Joseph is in legal trouble and is potentially facing charges.

 

Given that fact, Elam’s fit in a Dan Quinn defense, and the sullen looking Cowboys draft room…

 

I think there’s at least a pretty good chance the Cowboys would have taken Elam if we hadn’t jumped up. At the very least, it’s easy to see why Beane thought it was a strong possibility.

 

I live in the Dallas Ft Worth area...this is a LEGIT reason to believe the Cowboys would have in fact taken Elam.  Considering their fallback plan was..............................Tyler Smith?  A project OT/G.....there is NO CHANCE Smith was rated higher than Elam on the Cowboys draft board.  NONE. 

 

11 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

The move that I thought was more interesting was the Chiefs (if I recall) moving up to get in front of Green Bay, and then the Packers took less than five seconds to make their pick. What was that about? I believe the Chiefs got rolled.

 

The Chiefs didn't go to 21 to jump the Packers.  21 was where you had to get in order to land McDuffie.  KC was surely not the only team asking about 21....and considedring KC paid a 3rd and 4th move up from 29...it would seem there were other bidders and KC had to overpay to get there.  .....the move was to get to 21 to secure the pick VS other teams vying to get to 21....not to jump GB.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Zerovoltz said:

 

This is very interesting.

 

I don't think they were calling to get to 20 for Elam.

 

Here is why:

 

IF the Bills had Elam as the best rated DB on their board, it seems strange they'd be worried about going up for him when McDuffie was still available.  The reason being, McDuffie has been rated higher and been mocked higher than McDuffie throughout the scouting and draft process.  Many mocks had him as a top 15 pick..and some even had him inside the top 10.  Some ranking had him ranked ahead of Stinglely.  Elams has never been mocked that high and never shows up in any scouting services, any big board etc as a top 15 pick.  The highest I saw him was 17th.  Generally he's been a guy slated in the 28-34 range.  

 

Even if the Bills had Elam ranked higher than McDuffie (possible..we'll never know) then it would still be reasonable to think that most teams probably had McDuffie higher and that he'd be drafted before Elam, by some team just making their pick or by a team moving up.  Veach specifically saying that KC moved to 21 to get ahead of Buffalo suggests  (but isn't proof) that the Bills were trying manuever to get McDuffie.  Veach clearly had reason to think that McDuffie was the Bills target.  It's a fact that KC took McDuffie...so KC wasn't trying to move up to 21 because they were concerned Elam wouldn't be there. 

 

Given that McDuffie had been ranked appreciably higher by available sources, it doesn't seem like Elam was the guy the Bills were coveting when making calls to move up to as high as 20.    

 

That isn't to take away from Elam at all.  If KC couldn't make a trade...or if McDuffie was off the board at 15 or whatever and KC was sitting at 29..and the Bills at 25, also are still looking at him as the high end, round 1 talent that he is...that there is still a manuever by KC, the Bills or another team, to try and get him.  I'm not knocking the player or the pick.  I just don't think Elam was higher on the Bills board.  I do believe that they absolutely saw him/see him as a round 1, high end prospect worth securing with a high pick.  Elam was a guy KC fans often would disucss as a real possibility at 29/30 and was a popular guy to mock to KC there.  KC fans would have been happy to have ended up with him for all the same reasons you guys are glad to have him.

 

 

 

 

I live in the Dallas Ft Worth area...this is a LEGIT reason to believe the Cowboys would have in fact taken Elam.  Considering their fallback plan was..............................Tyler Smith?  A project OT/G.....there is NO CHANCE Smith was rated higher than Elam on the Cowboys draft board.  NONE. 

 

 

The Chiefs didn't go to 21 to jump the Packers.  21 was where you had to get in order to land McDuffie.  KC was surely not the only team asking about 21....and considedring KC paid a 3rd and 4th move up from 29...it would seem there were other bidders and KC had to overpay to get there.  .....the move was to get to 21 to secure the pick VS other teams vying to get to 21....not to jump GB.

 

Veach may well have thought the Bills wanted McDuffie. They met with him, they had a need at corner. Personally I am sceptical he wae ever the target and have been saying that on here for weeks. He just doesn't fit what they look for and this regime in Buffalo does not go against their tendencies very often if at all when it comes to drafting.