Kelly

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  • August 26, 2018 at 12:34 am #89848
    Avatar photozn
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    PFW

    ERIC EDHOLM

    from: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2018/08/26/saturday-preseason-wrapup-marcus-mariota-lamar-jackson-and-a-sneaky-big-injury/am5oo74/

    Meet Mr. Kelly

    It’s entirely possible that Los Angeles Rams rookie RB John Kelly gets about as much work in his rookie season as, say, Malcolm Brown did as Todd Gurley’s understudy last season: 63 carries, nine catches. Or maybe Brown’s workload plus some of Tavon Austin’s touches (71) from last season.

    The point is not to ask whether Kelly, a fifth-round pick, is going to cut into Gurley’s share of touches. It’s that Kelly looks good enough that you wonder if some NFL teams are already regretting letting him fall. Kelly led the way for the Gurley-less (and Jared Goff-less) Rams with 15 carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns against the Houston Texans.

    We had Kelly ranked 76th overall in our pre-draft top 100, and wrote this at the time about the Tennessee prospect: “Easily one of the most fun backs to watch on tape in this class, Kelly might never be a workhorse back because of his size, but he will win over fans, coaches and teammates with his hard running and underrated playmaking ability.”

    He was never a full-fledged star In Knoxville, but he had so many big games and big moments, it became something of a joke locally for how much former head coach Butch Jones didn’t use Kelly, often subbing him out immediately after knifing his way through another team’s defense. Kelly had at least one breathtaking run per game, even after having to wait his turn behind Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara until last season.

    Kelly is now up to 46 carries for 197 yards (4.3-yard average), with a long run of 40 yards and three TDs, also catching six passes in three games. It’s important to protect your best assets, and the Rams frankly got lucky Gurley was so durable last season. If he goes down this season, though, I don’t think it would be a massive dropoff with Kelly in there. He’s not nearly as good, of course, but the Rams have upgraded the backup spot — no question — in a big way.

    He’s somewhere on the Devonta Freeman spectrum to me, that kind of player. That’s a good place to be. Had Kelly gone a few rounds earlier, he might have landed somewhere where he was in line for a 150- or 200-touch rookie season. That only happens in L.A. if Gurley goes down.

    August 26, 2018 at 1:24 pm #89861
    Avatar photoEternal Ramnation
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    I’ve watched the TD run so many times and to me anyway it looks like a street comp run at the X Games. The spinning , crazy change of direction and incredibly stable balance you can tell he’s a skater.

    August 26, 2018 at 5:45 pm #89870
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
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    i may have underestimated this john kelly fellow. curious to see how this all plays out.

    August 27, 2018 at 3:13 am #89904
    Avatar photozn
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    RAMS’ JOHN KELLY LOOKS LIKE LATEST UNDERVALUED RB

    link: https://thedraftnetwork.com/2018/08/26/rams-john-kelly-looks-like-latest-undervalued-rb/

    The NFL has some odd tendencies in drafting running backs. Of course we’ve all heard the phrase “RBs are a dime a dozen”. And for a vast majority of them, yes. The talent pool at RB is stocked as full as any position in the league.

    But the NFL also doesn’t play by these rules anymore, having drafted 8 running backs in the first round since 2015. The lucky eight?

    2015 Todd Gurley, Rams
    2015 Melvin Gordon, Chargers
    2016 Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys
    2017 Leonard Fournette, Jaguars
    2017 Christian McCaffrey, Panthers
    2018 Saquon Barkley, Giants
    2018 Rashad Penny, Seahawks
    2018 Sony Michel, Patriots
    The common denominator between these eight backs is their athletic ability in relation to their size. All who tested (Gurley did not) logged above average athleticism when scoring their tests against their size. And having accomplished peak production, it appears the NFL has their model of exceptions.

    “RBs are a dime a dozen, except we’re not going to treat them like they are.”

    Enter John Kelly, the 176th pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Kelly, who is a former Tennessee Volunteer, had a frustrating career behind an underwhelming offensive line that simply found creating rushing lanes too tough of a task do do with any consistency.

    He’s not having those same issues thus far in the preseason, having logged 77, 56 and 64 rushing yards respectively in three games for the Los Angeles Rams. But Kelly had much better film, even with the line issues at Tennessee, than he got credit for.

    His 2018 NFL Draft report can be found below:

    Kelly showed that “tremendous balance and ability to sustain forward momentum/footing after contact” yesterday with this dazzling 15-yard touchdown romp.

    So with evident gifts and abilities as a running back and an above average athleticism score when adjusting for his size, what caused a slide? It’s hard to say for sure. Kelly’s perception may have been skewed by a Pro Day only 40 time (he ran 4.65 and then in the 4.5s). Or perhaps whispers off the field caught up with Kelly.

    Either way, he’s clearly outperformed Malcolm Brown this summer and is in all likelihood going to be the #2 back when the season opens.

    Undervalued backs are as much of a certainty as death and taxes.

    Arian Foster, C.J. Anderson, Priest Holmes, Fred Jackson all went completely undrafted. So, too, did Corey Clement, who can be John Kelly’s role model in 2018. Clement came in last year and eventually found himself in a key role for the Super Bowl Champion Eagles, having 6 touchdowns and being a key contributor in several big situations throughout the season.

    Kelly didn’t have to go through the entire draft without hearing his name called, but he should absolutely have a chip on his shoulder as the 15th RB drafted. And Kelly, like Clement, will have every chance as RB2 to make some key plays for the Rams, who have a Super Bowl of their own in mind this season.

    The final remaining hurdle for Kelly is to sustain his positive reps once the action transitions from the preseason to the regular season schedule. Barring a catastrophic injury to Todd Gurley, Kelly’s workload will be light, so he will need to make his chances count.

    But as the second string back, Kelly will absolutely see the ball every Sunday. And he’ll look to follow the mold most recently set by Corey Clement to make a few teams wish they’d seen him in a different light last April.

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