13 Jul Kaiir Elam, Florida
Junior | 6’2″ 195 lbs | Riviera Beach, Florida | 5/5/2001
An aggressive corner who can play in both zone and man and uses his rangy frame to disrupt receivers but lacks the change of direction to stay with quicker receivers.
Overview:
Kaiir Elam hails from a family of defensive backs; his father, Abram, played 7 seasons in the NFL as a safety. His uncle, Matt, was a former first-round pick. Kaiir was a four-star recruit out of high school and chose to attend the University of Florida. He earned the starting job midway through his freshman year. Elam plays predominantly outside in the Gators 1 gap 3-4 defense but is occasionally used as a hybrid linebacker/safety depending on the formation on offense.
The Gators’ defense utilizes mostly a mix of cover 3 and cover 4 zone coverages. They rely on different looks from the front seven to rush the quarterback, so they can have their lengthy corners and use their size to cover large areas of the field. In a 4-3 formation, they like to play press-man, allowing their outside corners to use their upper body strength and their length to press receivers to redirect them off their route.
Strengths:
– He has a strong upper body to jam and shoot into the receivers’ pads to disrupt the route in press coverage.
– Stays low over his feet with fluid hips and easily transitions out of pedal quickly.
– His long frame (height, arms) helps him with disruption at the catch point in man-to-man coverage.
– Has the ball skills to know when it is time to turn his head around and poke the ball when the pass hits the receivers’ hands.
– He has good instincts as a cover corner, with his ability to read the receiver’s body language and quarterback’s eyes to react and make a break for the ball.
– Quickly identifies bubble screens passes and has the pursuit and speed to get to the ball carrier quickly.
– Processes the quarterback’s drop to quickly break downhill to disrupt the pass intended for the receiver in zone coverage.
– Quickly processes whether the play is a run or a pass and holds his edge and zone, to break off receiver blocks to disrupt the play.
Areas To Improve:
– Struggles on changing direction in and out of breaks with quick-twitch receivers.
– Gets overly ambitious with jamming the receiver’s shoulders in press, leading to the receiver gaining inside leverage to make a play
– Lacks the technique in being a form tackler, too many misses low or high.
– Gets too focused on shooting his hands and loses concentration through the receiver’s route.
– Gets caught watching receivers’ hands before feet when matching release and breaks.
Injury Concerns:
– None
Projection:
Elam has great athleticism in size and arm length for the position at the NFL level. He is versatile playing inside and outside. His quick feet with loose hips and ball skills allow him to play in a variety of coverages. He has experience working in both press-man and off-man coverages. He is most effective in man-to-man, primarily because of his skill at being physical at the line of scrimmage with forcing the receiver off their route.
Elam will need to work on not being overly aggressive at the LOS and through the route. He needs to focus on the receiver’s feet and hips when he anticipates the receiver to break inside or outside for leverage. He has all the traits to be a starting corner and be a day one top-20 pick.
Dillon Gonzalez, a Tampa Bay Native, joins Expand the Boxscore with experience working in the football industry as a coach and Scouting student. In 2020, Dillon received Football GM and Scouting training from former Bucs GM Mark Dominik, Current Montreal Alouettes Director of US Scouting Russ Lande, and John Wooten, former player, and Executive. With joining XTB, he looks to continue building the necessary skills needed to obtain his aspirations of being an NFL Scout. In Dillon’s spare time, he likes to play video games, listen to music, and spend time with his family and two Dachshunds.