Should the Bears draft Chad Kelly?
It’s hard to argue the point from a talent perspective. The kid is a natural and a competitor who likes to win. He always brings his best stuff in big games against big opponents. In fact Andy Benoit, expert for the MMQB, believes Chicago could be the best landing spot for him. He explained why in great detail during his breakdown of the class.
“Kelly needs a system that plays to his early-in-the-down decisiveness and naturally curtails his risk-taking. In other words, a scheme that gets the ball out quickly. Adam Gase has been one of the best with this.
As the Bears offensive coordinator in 2015, his three-step timed passing game harnessed Jay Cutler, maybe the league’s most frustrating wild stallion. Would Gase’s Dolphins consider drafting Kelly as a fallback option to Ryan Tannehill? How about Gase’s old offense in Chicago?
Dowell Loggains, Gase’s close friend and current Bears offensive coordinator, runs a variation of Gase’s scheme. Would the Bears see Kelly as a developmental backup (which he’ll have to be, given that he just underwent wrist surgery and won’t be able to throw for three months) behind the newly signed Mike Glennon? A situation like that would be Kelly’s best shot.”
Kelly endured two different injuries over the past few months. It started last November when he tore the ACL and meniscus in his knee. Then just as he was getting healthy he tweaked his wrist while throwing at the Ole Miss pro day. The poor timing of those injuries is sure to sink his draft stock, but won’t be the deciding factor in whether the Bears may or may not draft him.
It’s his dubious off-the-field history.
Character questions
Things started poorly for him right off the bat in college when he was dismissed at Clemson in 2014 for “conduct detrimental to the team.” A lot of it likely had to do with a verbal altercation he had with coaches over an in-game decision. So he decided to spend a season at East Mississippi Community College where his team won the junior college national championship.
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That eventually landed him a scholarship with Ole Miss. Unfortunately his maturity issues continued to manifest. He had a heated exchange with a restaurant bouncer shortly after getting settled there. Then this past year he made matters worse by running onto the field of a high school football game looking for a fight after his younger brother took a late hit out of bounds.
It’s proof that Kelly has not yet learned how to fully control his emotions. Definitely not something a team wants from somebody at the most important position in football. Given how much emphasis the Bears have put on high character from their players under GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox, this pick would be unexpected in the extreme.
Then again, Pace has always said he’s about the best player available in the draft. Would he consider a calculated gamble on Kelly in the later rounds of the draft? That is quite possible. After being a first round hopeful last winter, it would not shock anybody if Kelly were still on the board in the fifth or sixth rounds. That’s how much uncertainty has been kicked up around him.
Still, if the Bears want to use the top of the draft to load up on non-QB talent and still get a potential long-term starter behind Glennon, then Kelly would be the best they can hope for.
