Buffalo Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam opens up about previous career struggles

Kaiir Elam had a lot of expectations when the Buffalo Bills drafted him in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. 

Not only did they draft him, they moved up in the draft to do so. And instead of forming a great tandem with Tre'Davious White, Elam struggled to outpace Dane Jackson and Christian Benford, both of which have played bigger roles in the defense over the last two seasons.

However, Jackson is now in Carolina and White is in Los Angeles with the Rams, leaving an opportunity for Elam to build on the bright spots he showed on the field to close out the season in 2023.

He intercepted Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the end zone to kill a Steelers' scoring opportunity in the wildcard round in what was only his third game of the season. Elam told Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN that it's been a mental battle thus far.

"Mentally, I feel like it kind of ate at me," Elam said. Well, not kind of, it did eat at me. I learned to appreciate the struggles cause it helped me become into who I am now. It's not like I was cutting corners. It's not like I wasn't listening or wasn't taking notes, wasn't preparing the right way. It just, I felt like it allowed me to learn though, like that's just the reality of it, and sometimes you can't really force success."

Elam enters the 2024 season with an opportunity to carve out a role in the Bills' secondary this season, which would be a tremendous step forward for the former first-round pick who is looking to get his career back on track.