Bills' Sean McDermott opens up on decision to activate Josh Norman over Kaiir Elam
The Buffalo Bills squeaked out a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It all came down to a Hail Mary by Baker Mayfield that fell to the turf, giving Buffalo a much-needed victory on a short week. Josh Allen, to no one's surprise, shined throughout the contest, despite throwing an interception on a bobbled pass. […]
The Buffalo Bills squeaked out a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It all came down to a Hail Mary by Baker Mayfield that fell to the turf, giving Buffalo a much-needed victory on a short week.
Josh Allen, to no one's surprise, shined throughout the contest, despite throwing an interception on a bobbled pass. In the victory, Allen cemented his place in NFL history, moving up to tied for second all-time for rushing TDs by a quarterback.
Before the game, the team made the decision, once again, to make former first-round pick Kaiir Elam a healthy scratch. Instead, the team activated veteran Josh Norman ahead of the game, a big indication of how the team feels about Elam's performances as of late.
Immediately after the contest, head coach Sean McDermott opened up to the media about the decision to make Norman active over Elam, and his response has quickly gone viral. Needless to say, Elam has a lot of work to do to earn back the trust of the front office.
You can find the portion of the interview at the 44:27 mark of the video below.
"Yeah, we want the players, at this point, and we feel like every decision we make is who can help us win." McDermott continued, "We wanted to see what Josh (Norman) could do there."
Saying that you wanted the best players, who can give your team the best chance to win, and having a veteran cornerback who hasn't been with the team or played meaningful football in months is not a good sign for Elam's future. While not flatout saying the team is moving away from him, McDermott provided a candid response on Elam's future.
At this point of his career, McDermott doesn't feel that Elam gives them the best chance to win. So much so, that they decided to activate a newly-acquired cornerback over a former first-round pick that was supposed to come in and immediately make noise on the defense.
It doesn't help Elam's case and that in the same draft class, in the sixth round, Buffalo may have struck gold in Christian Benford. While Elam had flashed late last season, he has proven to be a liability when he's on the football field, something McDermott knows all too well and is yet another reason why he was a healthy scratch heading into the matchup
Later in the interview, McDermott walked through his thought process behind elevating WR Andy Isabella ahead of the contest, "Well, I think part of it is we don't have any more tight ends, respectfully. We got Joel (Wilson) on the practice squad and he does a good job but we're just looking to put our best 11 on the field at times and that factored into it."
McDermott is going to do whatever he can to put his team in a position to win games. It doesn't matter where you come from, or where you were drafted, he just wants winners out there on the football field. Elam may not have many more chances to shine on this roster. If he does see the field again this season, he's going to really have to shine for the team to regain their trust in the talented young cornerback.
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