When Evan Silva announced through Twitter that Rob Kelley would be cutting into Keith Marshall‘s reps, those who didn’t read Austan Kas’ “Super Deep Sleeper” blurb in our own Redskins sleeper article a few weeks ago went straight to Google and asked, “Who the heck is Rob Kelley?” My first impression was that R-Kelley believed he could fly into the football scene. Well, we are getting to know something about Kelley, and none of it has anything to do with the singer. Perhaps Austan really was on to something earlier this month.
#Redskins UDFA RB Rob Kelley has begun cutting into Keith Marshall's 2nd-team reps: https://t.co/hOwQVsDu6o
— Evan Silva (@evansilva) August 18, 2016
Kelley didn’t enter the NFL the traditional way; he became a part of the Washington Redskins through the Undrafted Free Agency (UDFA) system out of Tulane. Looking at Kelley’s tape, you notice a big beefy runner (5-foot-11, 226 pounds) with some wiggle, but he is a typical downhill runner who is willing to go through the gaps. He isn’t very explosive (4.68 forty at Pro Day) but has enough steam to plow through the hole and lower the boom on opponents.
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He had many roles for the Green Wave as a fullback, running back, and kick returner. Kelley talked about how he fought adversity throughout college and making the pro team probably won’t be much different. “Every year my role changed,” Kelley told Redskins.com. “The first year I returned kicks. The second year I caught the ball and my junior year I ran the ball a lot.”
The interesting part about Kelley is Tulane never gave him a lot of focus. He finished with just 318 carries in his career for 1,270 yards and six touchdowns. Impressively he caught 46 passes as a sophomore, but only 42 in his other years. Not once did he have over 100 carries in a season, and only scored 12 times from scrimmage in his four seasons as a college athlete.
With these numbers, it is not shocking he was brought on as an UDFA. In fact, it is more surprising there is a need for him at all. To go from an UDFA to a player on a team takes a little luck, big opportunity, and the right skill set to make the system work. Through the midst of opportunity comes the heart of a winner and thus far, Kelley is proving he is just that.
Arriving in Washington, not many gave him a chance to prove himself. Lucky for him, he was able to showcase his ability to make the team and show he is more than a practice player or a lucky gamble to be betted on from the Redskins. A hole opened up when rookie and seventh-round pick Keith Marshall (Georgia) just wasn’t getting the job done.
After week one of the preseason, the Washington Redskins brass was not happy with how Marshall demonstrated impatience behind the line of scrimmage. He was also showing this in practices, compared to Kelley who had 40 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 13 yards. This was Kelley’s time to prove himself.
It didn’t come easy for Kelley. On his first few runs, he didn’t get much, but adversity is his friend and that’s when it all changed. On the first scoring drive of the 2016 season, Kelley took a handoff up the middle for 18 yards. Then one run left (five yards) and then the next one to the right (11 yards) to the one-yard line. He plunged in for a touchdown a play later from the one, straight up the gut.
“It felt good,” Kelley said after the first game of the preseason. “After this game, I felt more confident, like knowing I can play with those guys out there and the [next] level, moving up from college to the NFL and the hitting isn’t harder, but there are better players. I feel more confident, just being able to make plays with NFL guys, so I feel better about myself.”
When the following week rolled by, the Washington Redskins would be facing a much tougher defense than the one in Atlanta: the New York Jets, a much more challenging test for Robert Kelley. He finished the night with just eight yards on three carries. But, perhaps it wasn’t the small numbers that caught the eye of many spectators. Maybe it was head coach Jay Gruden’s decision to play Kelley over Marshall on the early downs, when Matt Jones went down with an AC sprain.
It is playing out that Kelley will be the primary backup to Jones and the handcuff for fantasy owners, not Marshall. Gruden stated that Kelley will get “a lot” of first-team reps in Matt Jones’ (shoulder) preseason absence. He also mentioned that Marshall would also get a share of those reps as well. Even so, this job seems to be won by Kelley.
Gruden says Matt jones won't play the rest of preseason and that Kelley will get a lot of first team carries and Marshall will get some too.
— Mike Jones (@MikeJonesWaPo) August 22, 2016
Kelley now quite possibly becomes the intriguing number-one back for the Redskins as long as Jones is out. Marshall looks to be the backup and Chris Thompson the third down running back for the team. Week three should be a tell-tale sign of what could be the alignment for the depth chart and if Kelley can cement his place in Washington.
For fantasy purposes this seems to be a mixed bag at running back. Matt Jones has not shown much, Robert Kelley is a UDFA, Keith Marshall is not demonstrating the skills he had at Georgia, and Chris Thompson is not much more than a passing down specialist.
“It will be interesting to watch these guys,” Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said. “These guys have shown a lot of promise in training camp. We want to see them in game situations against a good Buffalo team, and it will be a good test for them. Good for everybody.”
For further information regarding Robert Kelley please check out Austan Kas’ article on the Washington Redskins Summer Sleepers.
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