It makes a lot of sense for the Bills to trade one of their former first-round picks during the 2024 NFL Draft

Anything can happen during draft weekend and one of the most exciting developments -if not the most exciting development- is when the word "TRADE" pops up in the crawler at the bottom of our TVs.

At that point, anything is possible. Because no one knows who made the move nor what it entails. Even if it's a Day 3 trade - the suspense is guaranteed.

With that being said, the Buffalo Bills are an intriguing trade candidate, especially in the first round. Whether they pull of a first-round trade or a Day 3 trade remains to be seen, but there's one guy on the roster that makes a lot of sense to include in any package that may arise: former first-round cornerback, Kaiir Elam.

Elam has been anything but the first-round talent the Bills thought they drafted in 2022. Last season was marred by injury and inconsistency when healthy, but it looked like the light was coming on after the former Florida Gator's key interception against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wildcard Round of the playoffs.

We never got to see what Elam could do next, though, as the Bills coaching staff put him on the field for a whopping zero defensive snaps the next week. Against the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs, no doubt.

He played a total of five special teams snaps in that game, and that was with fellow cornerback, Christian Benford, inactive with an injury. The ironic part is Benford was the guy Elam replaced the previous week.

Meaning, the coaching staff clearly didn't have the confidence to put Elam on the field, in a defensive role, against the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, reserve corners Siran Neal and Cam Lewis even saw defensive snaps in that game.

The Bills cut Tre'Davious White a little while back, but still have their top-3 corners in Rasul Douglas, Taron Johnson, and Benford. It looks like Elam will be regulated to a reserve role, yet again, in 2024. 

At this point, the Bills should try and get something back for Elam via trade. His production warrants no more than a sixth-round pick, at best, but at the same time, maybe his first-round talents can work into a conditional pick of some sort. Like, if he plays a certain amount of snaps or records a certain amount of interceptions, then that bumps the pick up to a fourth-rounder, or something. 

Elam's rookie contract would also help the Bills' side of things in a hypothetical trade. 
He'd count a tick under $2 million against the cap in 2024 and a tick above $2.5 million in 2025. There's also his potential fifth-year option in 2026, which the acquiring team would have two years to figure out if they want to approve it or not. It's not like they'd have to make the decision by this year's deadline, or anything.

Sure, Elam could provide OK depth, but it's clear he's not a fit for this defense and while Douglas returned against the Chiefs - you'd think Elam would've seen the field for at least one defensive snap if his arrow was pointing upward.