What of Elam now??

[BuffBillsForLife]

What would this board's reaction have been if Beane traded Elam for a conditional 2025 7th rounder?  

[Augie]

1 minute ago, newcam2012 said:

Rumor was teams were only willing to give up a 7th round draft pick for him. 

 

Are you owning that rumor?   😋

 

 

I love internet rumors!  

[BillsFanForever19]

As I said in another post, the returns offered must not have been much more than a bag of balls.

 

And at that point, it's better to just hold on to him and hope he's a late bloomer. Some players come in the league and have it right off the bat. Some players just never work out. And some players it takes years before the light goes on.

 

Rasul Douglas was a former 3rd Round Pick of the Eagles who didn't work out. He then floated around the league a bunch. Took advantage of an opportunity on the Packers Practice Squad and then became a very solid starting ballhawk CB.

 

Geno Smith was a bust through and through. Spent some years floating around the league and now he looks like a completely different player.

 

Even AJ Epenesa. He was a complete afterthought. A total bust. And over the past year, the light has come on and he's playing his best ball.

 

Long story short, if the returns being offered equate to us essentially giving him away - it's better to take the chance that maybe he'll figure it out for us. Rather than how it would look to spend a 1st on him, give him away for nothing, and watch him develop for someone else.

[BaaadThingsMan]

He ain't done in Buffalo just yet

[Dunkirk Donski]

Do we know for sure Elam was on the trade block or was that just speculation?

[LyndonvilleBill]

2 minutes ago, Dunkirk Donski said:

Do we know for sure Elam was on the trade block or was that just speculation?

All speculation from what I can tell.

[Airseven]

3 minutes ago, Dunkirk Donski said:

Do we know for sure Elam was on the trade block or was that just speculation?

It was assumption. Too much circumstantial evidence to call it speculation.

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

As I said in another post, the returns offered must not have been much more than a bag of balls.

 

And at that point, it's better to just hold on to him and hope he's a late bloomer. Some players come in the league and have it right off the bat. Some players just never work out. And some players it takes years before the light goes on.

 

Rasul Douglas was a former 3rd Round Pick of the Eagles who didn't work out. He then floated around the league a bunch. Took advantage of an opportunity on the Packers Practice Squad and then became a very solid starting ballhawk CB.

 

Geno Smith was a bust through and through. Spent some years floating around the league and now he looks like a completely different player.

 

Even AJ Epenesa. He was a complete afterthought. A total bust. And over the past year, the light has come on and he's playing his best ball.

 

Long story short, if the returns being offered equate to us essentially giving him away - it's better to take the chance that maybe he'll figure it out for us. Rather than how it would look to spend a 1st on him, give him away for nothing, and watch him develop for someone else.

This is correct.

 

Elam was 100% available for anything of value. A conditional 7th if he makes it through camp next year is completely worthless at this point. 
 

And so here he remains. 

[billsfan89]

Probably will continue to be inactive unless there is an injury. McD is the best secondary coach in the league in my opinion if anyone can turn an athlete like Elam around it would be McD. 
 

Elam hopefully will stick with it at practice and understand the system better and get a chance to rebound at some point.

[Peter]

1 hour ago, PayDaBill$ said:

He’s pretty raw but not without talent. He cost next to nothing.  Get him some reps & experience. No need to give up on him yet.

 

I agree. I also think he has talent and there certainly is no reason to give up on him/give him away.

 

I also am old enough to remember how some here and on WGR and the Buffalo media were relentless with respect to having to draft a CB in that draft.

 

The Elam pick is a great example of why (in my judgment) teams should draft BPA rather than need.*

 

* Yes, I know that Beane says the Bills draft according to their board and that Elam was the only CB left with a first round grade.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Peter

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

21 minutes ago, BuffBillsForLife said:

What would this board's reaction have been if Beane traded Elam for a conditional 2025 7th rounder?  

[nedboy7]

He will play when someone gets hurt.  These 3 CBs are not gonna miss one more game? 

[FireChans]

12 minutes ago, Peter said:

 

I agree. I also think he has talent and there certainly is no reason to give up on him/give him away.

 

I also am old enough to remember how some here and on WGR and the Buffalo media were relentless with respect to having to draft a CB in that draft.

 

The Elam pick is a great example of why (in my judgment) teams should draft BPA rather than need.*

 

* Yes, I know that Beane says the Bills draft according to their board and that Elam was the only CB left with a first round grade.

Just once, I’d love to see a GM be like “yeah, we missed out on one of our targets so we took this dude because we needed a CB.”

[eSJayDee]

The simple problem w/ cutting him or trading him is his cap #.  As a 1st round pick, he had a big signing bonus, which would accelerate if jettisoned.  According to Sportrac, it'd cost roughly an extra $8m in cap to dump him rather than keep him.  Easier/cheaper/more prudent to just keep him on the roster & inactive every week.

[strive_for_five_guy]

2 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

He will play when someone gets hurt.  These 3 CBs are not gonna miss one more game? 

I mean it will take a least two of them being hurt at the same time.  Even Norman is ahead of him on the game day depth chart now.  Seems at least the coaching staff has serious concerns about Elam’s ability to perform in this system still.

[BBFL]

Obviously the tried to trade him? I didn’t see anything that suggested they were trying to trade or get rid of him. Sure they brought in replacements but I feel that’s more a part of Tre getting injured and the play being inconsistent from the other cornerbacks. 
 

Not saying they are not willing to move on but I haven’t seen anything that alluded to him being on the trade block for these past weeks. Unhappy with the production? Sure, hence the healthy scratches. 

[14774]

Position switch? Try him as a WR.🤷‍♂️

[Donuts and Doritos]

I heard he's really young, so he'll be fine. 

 

[nedboy7]

3 minutes ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

I mean it will take a least two of them being hurt at the same time.  Even Norman is ahead of him on the game day depth chart now.  Seems at least the coaching staff has serious concerns about Elam’s ability to perform in this system still.

 

Norm will pull a hammy on the first play is my guess. 

[Low Positive]

9 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Just once, I’d love to see a GM be like “yeah, we missed out on one of our targets so we took this dude because we needed a CB.”

You can't say that. Think back to when Tim Murray was honest about being disappointed about getting Jack Eicehel instead of McDavid. The honesty was nice, but the relationship between the team and the player was doomed from the start because of it.