The Buffalo Bills had a decision to make regarding cornerback Kaiir Elam. Would they pick his fifth-year option or not? Well, that’s not their decision to make anymore. The Bills traded their former first-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys. The move was first reported by Josina Anderson.
In compensation, the Bills will get a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 seventh. The Cowboys get Elam and a 2025 sixth-rounder.
Whey the Bills made it
Kaiir Elam was entering the fourth year of his rookie deal. He was slated to make $2.571 million as a base salary, and that part goes to the Cowboys. That’s what the Bills will save with the trade, and that was a fully-guaranteed amount. Buffalo gets $1.784 million in dead money, the final part of his signing bonus proration.
The cornerback hasn’t lived up to his draft status. Last season, he allowed a 118.4 passer rating when targeted, his worst career number. Throughout his three years in the league, he’s had three pass breakups (two of them in 2024) and two interceptions (both as a rookie).
Making sense of it all
Elam never became what the Bills expected, but he can still fit into Matt Eberflus’ defense on the Dallas Cowboys. Honestly, it’s a move the Bills could have already made a year ago.
For Buffalo, it made sense to recover some draft capital—even if it’s not that much— and clear some cap space. The sunk-cost fallacy would probably make things worse.
Elam is only 23, so it’s not unrealistic to think that he can end up having a decent or even really good NFL career. But Buffalo wouldn’t pick up his fifth-year option after all, so there wouldn’t be enough time to develop him in circumstances that have already failed to do so since 2022.
It’s obviously not the ideal outcome for the Bills. But it’s the best they could have under the current scenario. Ultimately, that’s the correct approach for everyone involved.
