Posted 29 April 2023 - 01:50 PM
Write-up from The Beast, #15 corner:
KYU BLU KELLY | Stanford 6002 | 191 lbs. | 4SR Las Vegas, Nev. (Bishop Gorman) 5/22/2001 (age 21.93)
STRENGTHS: Tall, long and limber … agile-footed with slick hips to turn and run vertically … comfortable in press-man, playing nose-to-nose at the line of scrimmage (see press-man snaps versus USC’s Jordan Addison) … has a feel for the sticks and route combinations in zone … uses long arms to wall off or reach the catch point before receivers … deftly plays through the hands of pass catchers … nice job settling his feet and dropping his pads in run support … strong, drag tackler once he latches on to ball carriers … smart on and off the field (signed a deal with Microsoft for a video game he created and is involved with real estate development) … has an understanding of what is required for an NFL career from his father … started 35 games in his college career.
WEAKNESSES: Only average speed by NFL standards and struggles to recover after false movements … tends to drift and can be driven off the top of routes … needs to avoid making downfield contact, panicking at times instead of turning to locate the ball (two pass interference penalties, one defensive holding in 2022) … average play strength and will hang on blocks longer than you want … gets in trouble when he waits for ball carriers instead of firing through them … ball production plummeted between junior and senior seasons (saw fewer targets) … missed at least one game each of the last three seasons, including a pair of games as a senior (October 2022).
SUMMARY: A four-year starter at Stanford, Kelly was primarily an outside cornerback in former defensive coordinator Lance Anderson’s balanced scheme. As the son of an NFL defensive back, he grew up around NFL locker rooms and coaches (Mike Tomlin was his father’s position coach for five seasons in Tampa) and put together a solid resume in Palo Alto. Kelly is a good-looking athlete with coordinated footwork to stay in the receiver’s hip pocket when his technique is right. But he isn’t dynamic out of transitions and needs to create plays on the football instead of waiting for them to appear. Overall, Kelly has electric foot quickness to gather, redirect and match route runners, but he lacks the recovery burst/speed to make up lost steps, which is a concern versus pro receivers. He has the baseline skills to compete for NFL starting reps.
GRADE: 3rd-4th Round