The Buffalo Bills made an addition by subtraction with their 2022 first-round draft pick on Wednesday afternoon.
With the NFL’s new league year kicking off at 4 p.m. ET, the Bills traded beleaguered cornerback Kaiir Elam to the Dallas Cowboys in what seems to be a salary cap-driven move. While a total of three Day 3 future draft selections were exchanged, the primary benefit for Buffalo is the money they will not have to pay Elam in 2025.
Heading into the fourth year of his rookie contract, Elam was due to count approximately $4.3 million in salary cap space this upcoming season. With the trade, Buffalo clears his $2.57 million base salary from its cap while absorbing about $1.8 million in dead money.
To put the saving in perspective, that $2.57 million is more than what Buffalo used to re-sign third-down running back Ty Johnson.
The cap savings seem well worth parting ways with Elam one year early. By all indications, the Bills had no intention of exercising his fifth-year option this spring.
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Elam’s tenure was a disappointment from the start. Given the opportunity to win a starting cornerback spot as a rookie in 2022, he lost out to sixth-round draft pick Christian Benford. The first-rounder struggled to earn playing time for three years now. In 2024, he was a healthy scratch for four games down the stretch.
As free agency officially begins, the Bills have $7.4 million in salary cap space according to Spotrac after factoring in all reported signing through Wednesday afternoon. A large portion of that cap allowance will be reserved for the team’s draft picks and in-season spending.
