Posts tagged Malcolm Kelly at FanHouse

Big 12 Preview: Oklahoma, Contender


These guys are among the small handful of preseason favorites for the national championship. Easy call putting them in the Contender category today, no? We make no promises on their ability to deliver, given the whole hot stove human behavior thing whereby Oklahoma has lost big in so many different ways in bowl games lately we know better than to bet on crimson anytime after early December.

But there's always that victory over Texas to fall back on, right? Assuming they beat Texas this year, of course.

Why They'll Win



Talent. It's the lifeblood of all college football programs and Oklahoma's fairly deep with it. The guys the NFL loves are on the lines, but college football fans can appreciate great players with diminished NFL prospects like one Sam Bradford. This guy's just got the knack for making accurate throws, on time, and making the right reads. His freshman season is simply the best statistical freshman season ever.

Oklahoma will continue to do what it always does, play fast on defense, and find ways to get the ball down the field on the ground and in the air. Leading rusher Allen Patrick departs but the exciting DeMarco Murray has arrived and he will be pushed in a big way from frosh back Jermie Calhoun. The offensive line is also widely considered the nation's finest.

Never Too Early: Washington Redskins Fantasy Football Preview

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
New look offense! Out with Al Saunders and Joe Gibbs and in with Jim Zorn's high-powered west coast offense. The offense Zorn is installing is the one used in Seattle under Mike Holmgren and has made fantasy stars of numerous players through the years, including Brett Favre, Shaun Alexander, and Matt Hasselbeck. This has caused everyone to expect that Clinton Portis -- since he's arguably more talented and much tougher than Alexander -- to become an absolute beast. That's all well and good ... just remember that Portis isn't following Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson on one side of the line.

The Breakout
Jason Campbell has shown flashes of being a productive QB, but been derailed by injuries and inconsistency. He has plenty of tools and weapons to become a fantasy starter (top 12ish) in this offense. The Skins even tried to overload the receiving corps during the draft by selecting TE Fred Davis and WRs Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly with upper round selections. He did throw for 215, 348, 301, and 216 yards in the last four full games before he was injured. Be ready to pounce on Campbell as a quality backup with the chance to become a starter at some point in '08.

Redskins Letting Jerome Mathis Go

The Washington Redskins have placed WR/KR Jerome Mathis on waivers. After the draft, it was obvious that Mathis ... who signed with Washington on April 4th ... didn't have a good shot at sticking with the team.

At the draft, the Redskins drafted recievers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly. Both would've pushed Mathis down on the receiving depth chart. Mathis' return duties took a hit with the drafting of Thomas (who could find a nice role there) and cornerback J.T. Tryon.

Second off, Mathis has had some troubles with Johnny Law of late, which didn't make his signing very tantalizing in the first place. One was for mishandling his pit bulls ... and the second was for punching his common-law wife.

All this could mean that Mathis' NFL career may come to a halt. Depite being a Pro-Bowl player in his rookie season (2005), he wasn't highly sought after during free agency and may have trouble landing a new gig.

Methinks the Redskins are Out of the Chad Johnson Sweepstakes

Last week, reports came out that the Redskins offered two draft picks to the Bengals for Chad Johnson. Cincinnati shot it down.

After Day 1 of the NFL Draft, it doesn't seem that the Redskins will revisit those talks.

The Skins draft out of the first round, netting three second round picks and used all three on receiving threats: WRs Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly and TE Fred Davis.

Thomas and Kelly are those big possession type receivers that Washington was looking to vault their new West Coast Offense. Both are strong, great hands, can break tackles and make big plays. Ya know, things we were looking for in Chad Johnson.

As Hogs Haven points out, this should help QB Jason Campbell out tremedously. He now has three big targets to look at the ability to spread this team out to four or five wideouts (Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El are no slouches). Davis projects to be like a Chris Cooley type player which gives Washington the ability to use two tight ends in the running game.

Final Vikings Mock Draft Roundup: Will Minnesota Add Another Receiver?

Vikings fans aren't going to have a whole lot of to worry about today. After trading away their first-round and both third-round picks to the Chiefs for defensive end Jared Allen, Minnesota only has one pick in the first three rounds, although they do have six picks overall.

But just because they don't have a first-round pick doesn't mean we can't speculate over who the Vikings will take with their second-round pick. Defensive end is obviously no longer a need, but Minnesota could still use help at cornerback and safety. Minnesota will likely be at the back end of a run on cornerbacks, and this isn't a great draft for safeties, which makes things tougher.

I was able to find three mock drafts done in the last couple of days that do go deeper than just the first round. There seems to be a lot of thoughts that Minnesota will take a wide receiver, with two of the three drafts picking a wide receiver. But with Bernard Berrian, Sidney Rice and Bobby Wade, Minnesota actually should be OK at wide receiver, especially since this is a run-based team. Adding a corner, a safety or offensive tackle (as Bryant McKinnie insurance) would seem to be a better way to go.

FINAL MOCK DRAFTS
NFL Draft Scout's Rob Rang Reggie Smith, CB, Oklahoma
NFL Draft Scout's Chad Reuter
Early Doucet, WR, Louisiana State
CBS Sportsline's Pete Prisco
Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma

'Skins Could Draft Slow-Footed Malcolm Kelly to Replace No-Catching Brandon Lloyd


I was pretty sure wide receiver Malcolm Kelly didn't run (even if slowly) himself out of the first round of the NFL draft after a poor workout for NFL scouts. But his explanation for why he wasn't very fast convinced me he wouldn't be among the first 31 picks.

Of course, it's pretty well established that I don't know what I'm talking about, so it makes perfect sense that the former Oklahoma star could very well be taken in Round 1.
Kelly bears particular attention. The Skins already brought him in for a visit recently and went out to Oklahoma for his workout. Now, they're going back again. It's looking more and more obvious that their dream scenario, where a tackle like Williams or Albert slips to 21, is out the window. And the ability to trade down out of the pick is largely out of their control, and there might not be a team willing to give up enough to trade up. So they might be stuck making a pick.
Welcome to the 2008 Washington Redskins: not only do they have a first-round pick, but they're trying to trade down in the draft.

Malcolm Kelly's 'Slow Surface' at Oklahoma Pro Day Why Adrian Peterson Didn't Run?

Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly has received a lot of criticism for both the slow 40-yard dash times he turned in at Oklahoma's pro day workouts, and for the way he has conducted himself, blaming the Oklahoma coaching staff and the slow surface at Oklahoma's practice facility.

Most of that criticism has been justified, but this criticism is not:
Gil Brandt called in on Thursday and made a tremendous point on this Malcolm Kelly controversy, about Kelly claiming the university had him run on a slow surface at Oklahoma. Kelly ran 40-yard-dash times of 4.63 and 4.69, and if the surface was so slow, then why did Adrian Peterson run a 4.39 on the same surface last year?
Actually, Peterson didn't run the 40 at last year's Oklahoma pro day; the only drill he did was the 60-yard shuttle. I don't know why Peterson didn't run the 40, but the slow surface could have contributed to that decision.

And anyway, even if Peterson has run a 4.39 on that surface in some other workout, that doesn't necessarily mean Kelly is too slow to be an NFL receiver. You can certainly be much slower than Peterson and still contribute in the NFL.

The bottom line is that I think Kelly's draft stock has fallen in the last month, and I think he has no one to blame but himself for that, but I also think we may have reached the point where people are going out of their way to find reasons to criticize him, sometimes unfairly.

FanHouse Mock Draft: Washington Redskins Select Malcolm Kelly No. 21

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

With the first pick in the Jim "Z-man" Zorn era, the Redskins will look for a receiver. Currently, the Skins have two fast receivers who are excellent in the open field ... but lack the kind of move-the-chains guy you need in the West Coast Offense.

Enter Malcolm Kelly. Kelly is big (6'4, 220 lbs), has great hands and has the ability to break tackles and turn a 7-yard slant into a 50-yard TD.

Remember that Washington's QB is Jason Campbell, who has just about one season worth of starts under his belt. Having a big target like Kelly who can catch bad passes is quite a find. Imagine adding a guy like Kelly to a receiving unit that has Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El and Chris Cooley ... with Clinton Portis coming out of the backfield.

Did I mention Portis? Kelly is an outstanding blocker in the Hines Ward mold who is sure to help the Redskins running game.

Malcolm Kelly Apologizes for Rant, Schedules New Workout ... but Scouts Can't Attend


Word on the street is that former Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly is a swell guy, and that there may be some truth to the accusations that the Sooners staff didn't go out of their way to help him during his workout for NFL scouts. But, well, he still comes off looking like a baby.

Which probably has something to do with Kelly going on the radio and apologizing rant. He's also scheduled another workout, this time in Atlanta, and under the direction of former Green Bay Packers wideout Boyd Dowler. Great, right? Not exactly. From Hashmarks' Matt Mosley:
But here's the catch: No NFL scouts will be allowed in the building. Dowler, who's in the Packers Hall of Fame, will send video and information from the workout to all 32 NFL teams and various media outlets.
Come again? Look, I get the public apology, and rescheduling the workout seems like a smart move ... but no NFL scouts? Um, why even go through the trouble? It's like going to a job interview but requesting that nobody from the company you're interested in working for can be in the room. I think that only makes sense for peep-show employees.

Mosley thinks a lot of scouts will be highly suspicious of the move, and suggests that Kelly should set up as many private workouts as possible. Or -- and this is out there, I know -- he could just make his next workout accessible to the guys trying to hire him.

Previously on FanHouse
Malcolm Kelly Wants You to Know It's OU's Fault He's So Slow; Bob Stoops Disagrees
Malcolm Kelly Bombs Workout, Might Need to Consult Career Fallback Plan

Malcolm Kelly Wants You to Know It's OU's Fault He's So Slow; Bob Stoops Disagrees


Just know this, Malcolm Kelly: The Truth Is Out There. Or something. After yesterday's career-ending-before-it-starts workout* for NFL scouts, the former Oklahoma wideout did what any of us would do as we watched our hopes and dreams take one last lap around the Thomas Crapper before disappearing forever: blamed it on a conspiracy to sully his good name:
"Certain people have tried to hold me down, and they know who they are," Kelly said after the workout. "I wouldn't say the whole OU coaching staff, but certain people, I would say that."
Head coach Bob Stoops should be sure to include that in the recruiting video. Apparently, Kelly's slow 40 times aren't his fault, but lie with OU's strength coach, who forgot to inform Kelly that he'd be running "on the Everest Indoor Training Center's field turf instead of the Mosier Center's AstroTurf, a surface on which Kelly had been training the last month."

Somebody should point out to Kelly that in the NFL you don't get to choose the surface you run on. And I'm guessing if he runs in the high 4.6s on any artificial surface built for, you know, running, he'll be noticeably slower on grass (or worse, this). Kelly also blamed OU doctors for misdiagnosing a leg injury that kept him out of the Fiesta Bowl and the NFL Combine.

In the scheme of things, I don't think a slow 40 time is an indictment on a guy's ability to play in the NFL. Calling out team coaches and doctors? Yeah, that's a little different.

* not really
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