Malcom Kelly and the NFL Draft
2008-04-19
Posted by: badanov
Some folks at the national level probably never herd of Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly, but rivals until about three weeks ago rated him as one of the top three picks at wide receiver in the nation.
This ball handler is Terrill Owens size at 6'2" 217 pounds. That is a large slab of beef for corners to take down at full speed.
Speaking of which was Malcolm Kelly's Pro Day at Oklahoma and the Do Over Pro Day, neither of which have been widely reported.
Apparently at Kelly's first Pro Day he clocked a 4.7 forty, then subsequently complained that he was on the wrong surface and using the wrong shoes. Additionally, although there is nothing on YouTube to prove it, Kelly jumped down the OU's athletic trainer's throat publicly and in front of NFL scouts about how a leg injury was improperly cared for. The confrontation was filmed but so far none of it has yet been leaked for public view.
Dammit.
Radio commentary of former OSU head coach Pat Jones, indicated immediately following the first Pro Day that the only thing the scouts would look at was the 4.7, his behavior and a lot of the public utterances. This temper tantrum directed at a venerable trainer did not help Kelly at all and was seen by NFL scouts as a prima donna berating a lesser person. This would figure into his draft rating.
With these actions Kelly went from a first round pick to a third round pick.
That's a lotta dough lost because you can't STFU for one whole day.
Malcolm Kelly demanded and then got a Pro Day do over, where he subsequently improved his time to 4.6 on the forty, but basically nothing else had changed.
Paraphrasing Pat Jones: "You don't get paid to run the forty: you get paid to make plays in the NFL, and whether Kelly's dash time was in the 4.5 area, the only thing scouts were going to have on their draft boards was the original 4.7 forty time."
And that makes sense. You do get paid to perform. I seriously doubt any NFL staff would say to a rookie in a road game, because it is raining you must run a 4.7 forty type speed on natural turf or you're gone.
You make the plays you can, and you don't worry about the plays you don't make. They're in the past. It's what you can do for the team now.
Kelly's scouting report looked like my report card in high school: "He has a lot of potential!"
Faint praise for a kid they dare not call lazy.
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