Kelly still might be a first-round pick

By Jake Trotter

Published: April 26, 2008

Throughout his college career, the former Oklahoma wide receiver repeatedly coasted past defensive backfields for wide-open catches.

For that reason, many NFL analysts at one point considered Kelly the top receiver available in the draft.

But in April, when it came time to run in a straight line without pads in front of scouts, Kelly's wheels hit the brakes.

Today, during the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, Kelly will find out how his disappointing 40-yard dash times — combined with the rumors about the health of his knees and the accusations he made toward OU that made their way onto to ESPN and everywhere else — affect when he is selected.

This much is sure — Kelly, once considered a possible top-10 selection, has watched his stock fall over the last two months.

The question is, how far?

Perhaps not very.

Even though it appears that the Buffalo Bills will go in a different direction with their 11th overall pick, possibly selecting Michigan State receiver Devin Thomas, Kelly still has suitors considering him for the first round.

A Washington Redskins contingent, which included quarterback Jason Campbell, owner Daniel Snyder and head coach Jim Zorn, visited Norman on Thursday to put Kelly through a private workout with Campbell throwing passes to him.

The Redskins, who have the No. 21 pick — and who, according to The Washington Post, are looking to add a high-profile weapon for Campbell — could take Kelly in the first round.

The Redskins have tried to package that draft pick to acquire disgruntled Cincinnati Bengals wideout Chad Johnson, but they have failed to make a deal for him or for Arizona Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin.

Since Washington's two starting receivers, Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El, are 5-foot-10, taking someone like Kelly, who's 6-4, 229 pounds, makes sense for a franchise that is transitioning to the West Coast offense.

But according to the Post, the Redskins could select Limas Sweed of Texas with their first-round pick instead.

Or they could take Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling, the other player the Redskins visited Thursday, with hopes that Kelly would still be around in the second round.

Kansas City (17th pick), Philadelphia (18), Tampa Bay (20), Dallas (22, 28), Pittsburgh (23), Tennessee (24), Seattle (25) and San Francisco (29) all also have needs at receiver and could have Kelly on top of their boards today.

But whenever Kelly's name is finally called, it will end what has been a turbulent six months dating back to December when he suffered a partial quadriceps tear the week after the Sooners won the Big 12 championship.

That injury kept Kelly out of the Fiesta Bowl and eventually from participating in the NFL Scouting Combine.

Not only that, the NFL Network speculated that several teams were taking Kelly off their draft boards because of concerns of chronic knee pain.

Those rumors intensified so much that Kelly's agent wrote a letter to every NFL team calling those rumors "irresponsible” and "untrue” and enclosed a doctor's letter stating Kelly was healthy.

The culmination of the last sixth months, however, occurred on April 9 at OU's second pro day, when Kelly ran a sub-standard 4.68 40-yard dash. He then publicly criticized OU for moving the testing to FieldTurf from AstroTruf, even though the scouts in attendance had requested the change. He also accused the OU training staff of misdiagnosing the quadriceps injury.

Kelly later apologized for his remarks and re-ran the 40 at OU a week later on the track, which is a faster surface than FieldTurf.

His 40 times, however, weren't any better, leaving his status in doubt with some teams.

Even so, Kelly was a productive player in college, with vice grips for hands and a knack for blazing past defensive backfields.

That might be enough to keep him from dropping out of the first round.

Today, we'll finally find out.

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