At the coming NFL Scouting Combine, 330 of the top prospects will run various drills and meet with teams to sell themselves as potential draft picks. While the upcoming draft’s most talked-about picks will be in Indianapolis, one of the event’s biggest stories already has been who won’t be there: Chad Kelly.

The former Ole Miss quarterback was originally invited to the event, and booked a flight from Pensacola, Fla. When the invites were made official earlier this month, Kelly found out his invitation had been rescinded. Kelly’s agent, former Louisiana state lawmaker Vance McCalister, was furious and began looking into why his client was uninvited from the event.

McCalister recently detailed that process and what’s been going on inside Kelly’s camp for Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports. As was widely speculated, the NFL pulled the invitation after further investigating Kelly’s January 2015 altercation outside a Buffalo bar. The incident resulted in a non-criminal charge of disorderly conduct. While the non-criminal charge helped keep his college career alive, the NFL wasn’t satisfied with the results of the legal process.

NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, Chad’s uncle, inquired to league commissioner Roger Goodell, his friend, personally about the matter. Goodell asked Jeff Pash, his second in command in to speak with Kelly’s representatives. McCalister had a “heated call” with Pash and finally got the full answer from B. Todd Jones, the NFL’s chief discipline officer:

… Jones and McAllister finally connected on Tuesday, and Jones told him that the severity of the initial charges (plus the ugly look of the surveillance video that had been posted by police online) and the disorderly conduct conviction were the reasons why Kelly would not be invited and that “good lawyering” was the reason it was pleaded down to a non-criminal misdemeanor.

No one knows what direction Kelly’s career might have taken if it weren’t for the “good lawyering.” Without it, it seems doubtful that Kelly throws for 6,500 yards at Ole Miss and leads the Rebels to a 10-win season capped off by a Sugar Bowl victory.

Edholm opines that the combine was the perfect opportunity for Kelly to make the case that he has matured since the Buffalo altercation and his other off-the-field issues:

In theory, the combine would be the perfect place for Kelly to try to assuage the decision makers for the 32 teams that he could be trusted. League evaluators will tell you that more so than the on-field workouts conducted there, the medical and character evaluations are the most valuable portions of the process. Most of teams’ scouting has been completed, but they get an up-close look at players — either MRI results or by facing team officials’ questions in organized 15-minute interview blocks.

There were rumors that Kelly might travel to Indianapolis and try to hold meetings with the interested teams in town for the event. McCalister says that will not be happening.

“He told me, ‘It wasn’t meant to be. I am going to have to get to the league another way, but I know I have the talent to play.’ He didn’t want to be a distraction by being there,” McAllister said.

Not all hope is lost for Kelly. The article notes that he was in contact with the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears staffs at the Senior Bowl, and he plans to take part in Ole Miss’ pro day on April 3, which has now become his most important pre-Draft event.