NFL analyst Ron Jaworski explains where he thinks Chad Kelly will be drafted
PHILADELPHIA — Love him or hate him, former Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly is going to end up with an NFL team by the end of this week.
Whether he hears his name called in the 2017 NFL Draft or has to wait to sign as an undrafted free agent remains to be seen, but the big-armed quarterback will head into training camp with a job.
With several off-field incidents in his past and a recent surgery on his wrist that will keep him from throwing for a couple more months, Kelly is a high-risk, high-reward draft prospect.
Former NFL QB Ron Jaworski, now an analyst for ESPN, assessed the risk involved in drafting the ex-Rebel, saying there are several things for teams to consider before picking the mercurial quarterback.
“Some of the experience with Chad Kelly is not good — the transferring and things like that, off-the-field issues and now you’ve got an injury on top of that,” Jaws told Saturday Down South. “The lineage is good from Jim Kelly as part of the bloodlines, but he was very inconsistent in college. I saw some unbelievable throws that projected well to the NFL, but then I saw some throws that were head-scratchers, some decision-making (issues) and some inaccurate throws.”
All that said, Jaworski still thinks Kelly will go a little bit higher than his current NFL.com projection, which has him listed as a Round 5-6 target.
“I think he’s a guy that, fourth or fifth round, teams will take a chance on and see if he can mature into an NFL quarterback,” he said.
As Jaworski said, Kelly has what it takes athletically to make it in the NFL. In fact, he recently received high marks on his accuracy from ESPN’s Sports Science.
Kelly finished his two years in Oxford with 6,800 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, often rising to the occasion in big games. Just ask Alabama about that, as Kelly torched the Crimson Tide for 762 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions the past two seasons (one game which the Rebels won and one which they lost).
But, as Jaworski noted, much of Kelly’s ability to follow in his Hall-of-Fame uncle’s footsteps will depend on whether or not he matures enough off the field to find success on it.
While I do think Kelly is beyond talented, his decision making on the field was sometimes questionable. Luckily his receiving corp. were pretty amazing on any of his missteps.
All in all, I think he will do amazing in the NFL. He def has an NFL arm, and actually being around Adult-thinking individuals, whom have already been successful, will spur growth mentally. To me, he’s an easy gamble and a no brainer.
Ever since Prescott came out and dominated his rookie year, OM and State have actually gotten along much better. I graduated from OM and love Prescott in the NFL.
I know Kelly won’t have the same immediate impact, but hopefully in the games he does play in he will give us a glimpse of what the future could hold.
Dude is going to be a steal!
Stud. Now I’m not saying he’s going to be this good or even close, but Brett Favre had plenty of INTs(the most in history actually) and had plenty of head scratching passes. That means nothing. Kelly is a baller, id risk it
I’m shocked that for once everyone isn’t biased. As an OM fan, there was a love/hate relationship with Kelly. I didn’t like the guy until he was on the field. Tremendous talent, just hope he doesn’t do like other “character” guys (Manziel) and stay in trouble.
Luckily, Kelly is not near as big of an idiot as Manziel. Kelly has done stupid stuff, no one can argue that, but he won’t throw away his NFL career for drugs like Johnny did.
You met Chad Kelly? Doubt that and I did several times. As an M club member I was around him spring and summers. Great kid,learned his lessons and as a dyslexic,over came that stigma that fueled his behavior. Don’t talk about what you don’t know about
I live 10 minutes from the Kelly’s and he has taken some unfair attacks these last few weeks
I’m real excited for him and I’d love to see him on the Buffalo Bills. Lead them back to winning ways.
It’s hard to feel bad for Kelly..I thought he played well enough and showed enough NFL traits to get him in 2-3rd consideration, maybe even sneak into the first if there was a QB needy team, but after his Buffalo night club incident he should have kept himself together. While I think the Mia Khalifa, being on the field during his brothers his school scuffle and him being photographed at a table with marijuana incidents aren’t THAT bad, you have to know that people are looking at you under a microscope. Kelly has had success at almost every level he’s been at, how he handles potentially going undrafted and being a back up will be a good measure on if he really has what it takes IMO
Correct,just like Daks DUI and drunk beach fight/beat down.. just childish mistakes.
My only issue with his on the field performance was sometimes he’d get turnover prone. There were a few games in 15 and 16 that OM lost because their D was on the field early and often due to CK trunovers. Wish him the best of luck this week and in his NFL career. Hell feel free to contact the Saints and sit behind Drew for a couple of seasons.
Om receivers were all studs but all except Ingram were poor route runners. He compensated best he could
First pass he completed in 2015 was a 35-40 yard “out” to Stringfellow. Damndest thing I’ve ever seen. I played the game…he has it all