ORCHARD PARK – The most surprising thing that happened for the Buffalo Bills prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline wasn’t that general manager Brandon Beane made a deal, it was that cornerback Kaiir Elam was not involved in that deal.

The second-year player is on his way to becoming one of the Bills’ most disappointing first-round picks, right up there with immortal whiffs such as – well, that list is too long but keeping it just to the 21st century – Erik Flowers, Mike Williams, J.P. Losman, John McCargo, Aaron Maybin and EJ Manuel.

Yet as the Bills turn their attention to preparing their game plan for their stiffest test of the season, Sunday night’s road game in Cincinnati, Elam is still on the team.

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It is not known whether the Bills tried to include him in the trade that brought Green Bay cornerback Rasul Douglas to Buffalo, or if he was being used as an asset to get another deal accomplished. Beane won’t reveal that information, but if Elam was discussed and none of the teams Beane was talking to were interested, that’s quite an indictment.

Beane spent a segment of his 25-minute news conference Wednesday making the case that he’s not ready to give up on Elam, not after just 1 ½ years of trying to learn to play a position that is one of the toughest in the NFL.

He pointed to two corners currently on the roster – Douglas and Josh Norman, who Beane was involved with drafting back in 2012 for Carolina – as players who struggled early in their careers before turning things around, and Beane still holds out hope that Elam can do the same.

“I still know that Kaiir can play and some of the same things I just talked about with Rasul – not everything worked out for him,” Beane said.

Douglas began as a third-round pick of the Eagles, but then bounced to the Raiders, Texans and Cardinals before landing with the Packers where his career took off. Of Norman, Beane said, “In Carolina we drafted Josh and I know there was multiple times we had to sit Josh down and I believe it was middle of his third year where the light came on and the next year he really flipped the switch. So I’m still very hopeful (on Elam).”

One reason why Beane can still hope is that he sees how hard Elam works, and if that hard work can ever sync up with his obvious athletic talent, Elam can still rescue his career in Buffalo.

“Kaiir is here working hard, he’s doing everything,” Beane said. “It’d be easy if he’s running the streets or not in his playbook, but he’s doing everything … he’s a pro, he wants to do well. This game requires confidence and things like that, and if things don’t go well, maybe your confidence drops a little bit and you’ve got to ask Kaiir where that’s at. But we’re gonna stay with him.

“Not everything has worked out perfect but he’s a young player, he’s halfway through season two. I’ve gone back and looked at his college stuff and I see it; I know what’s in there, we just got to get it out of him. We’ve got to get his confidence up and make sure he gets back to 100%, however we do that.”

Beane also added that this likely won’t happen right away because he revealed that Elam has been battling a lingering ankle injury and it seems like he will be placed on the injured reserve list, possibly as early as this week, to give him time to get healthy, plus open a roster spot for a player who can contribute now.