Will Bills CB Kaiir Elam thrive outside of John Butler’s shadow?

The 2024 NFL season will prove to be huge for Buffalo Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam. After two incredibly frustrating and often disappointing seasons to start his professional career, Elam spoke to reporters at this year’s OTAs about having confidence and believing in himself now more than ever.

For Elam, there is a sense of renewed opportunity. New cornerbacks coach Jahmile Addae takes over the role John Butler held for six seasons. Addae joins Buffalo’s defensive coaching staff as the brand new face of One Bills Drive, and someone who could present a very welcome change in Elam’s coaching style.

It remains to be seen to what extent, if at all, Addae’s coaching methods deviate from Butler’s. But you can be sure Addae is eager to put his own stamp on a defensive secondary liberated by Butler.

For Bills and Butler, things came to an abrupt end, with reports indicating that both sides had agreed to part ways. This breakdown was the end result after a season where McDermott chose to call defensive plays instead of putting the experienced Butler (who also held the title of passing game coordinator) in that role.

McDermott’s decision to promote the less experienced Bobby Babich to defensive coordinator likely exacerbated matters. Babich comes from a coaching family, with his father Bob Babich coaching linebackers from 2017-2021 until his son took over. One could imagine a scenario in which McDermott wouldn’t want to lose another potentially promising coordinator (Babich) to a known commodity (Butler).

So what really made John Butler leave the Bills? To anyone paying attention, it seemed like Butler had simply decided to leave after once again being pushed aside from the role of defensive coordinator.

For his part, Butler informed Tim Graham in an article with Athleticism that he just wants to run an NFL or college football defense. At 51, Butler is still young enough to coach in the NFL, but the recent trend has been to hire relatively unknown youngsters for coordinator positions. Maybe he feels like time is running out like never before?

Shortly after Butler’s departure, he posted a series of tweets supporting the work the Bills’ defensive backs have accomplished in six seasons with him at the helm. Taking a decidedly defensive tone, Butler seemed to imply that he was anything but the problem.

There was, of course, one glaring concern among Butler’s coaching resume with the Bills. Despite those impressive unit stats and rankings, Elam, the team’s 2022 first-round pick, was unable to flourish for two seasons under Butler’s tutelage. The natural step is to ask whether the responsibility here lies primarily with Elam or with Butler, or perhaps somewhere in between, implying a flaw in their relationship.

It’s true that a player’s failures don’t belong exclusively to their coaches, but much of what happens during an NFL team’s practice or behind closed doors remains out of sight and outer ears. But not always.

We know that there are at least two sides to every story. In that case, consider the comments made by former Bills center Eric Wood during his most recent “Centered On Buffalo” podcast. Just before the 14 minute mark, Wood revealed some interesting news regarding the coaching relationship between Elam and Butler.

Wood told guest Matt Parrino:

“I’m interested to see what he looks like this year. I mean, it was pretty well known to people who were around training camp practices — I mean, you could see John Butler crushing that kid. He has obvious trust issues, he’s talked about it. Now he tried to get some back late last year – he got intercepted in the playoffs. He made some plays towards the end of the year and I hope he can continue that this offseason. But I’m excited to see what he can maybe do with a different coaching position. Maybe someone who builds it consistently rather than – I mean, and listen… I’m not in the building on a daily basis. I’m just saying what I saw and heard, you know, from the people reporting on the practices and what they saw and how he was treated, uh, by his position coach. So, I’m curious to see if he can step up this year and maybe fit into that first-round draft pick mold – which we were all hoping to see with his size and skill and all that.

Again, we can’t know for sure if Butler’s coaching style was counterproductive to Elam’s growth as a player, but it’s clear that something needed to change. Was Elam the only player Butler regularly destroyed in practice?

The intent here is not to imply that Butler’s coaching style was wrong. Clearly, the stats he tweeted about play a key role in backing up his work and approach. But in Butler’s role as defensive backs coach, he hasn’t been able to bring out the best in Elam.

As for his departure from Buffalo, it’s fair to wonder if his tactics, particularly regarding Elam, played too large a role in negatively shaping his future with the team. In Butler’s call to “Ask ANY DB I’ve coached” – what would Kaiir Elam say?

For One Bills Drive, there is a lot at stake regarding Elam and his status as a first-round pick. Now that the dust has settled, Elam remains with the Bills, while Butler continues to look for his next opportunity.

Will Kaiir Elam and Jahmile Addae prove to be a perfect match – the winning formula? Elam believes there has never been a better opportunity.