Player Spotlight: Malcolm Kelly

Malcolm Kelly was drafted with the 51^st Overall Pick (2nd Round) out of Oklahoma, in the 2008 NFL Draft.  Standing at 6’4” and weighing in at 226 lbs, this is a beast of a Wide Receiver (WR), at least in stature.  But not in production…. at least not yet.  I believe the young man is poised for a breakout season.  And when it happens, remember that you heard about Malcolm Kelly from me first.  If you don't believe me just ask his college teammate, Sam Bradford.

So far, Kelly has appeared in 10 games and has 365 yards on 28 catches.  So I guess there is no where to go, but up.  But he is more than just a big body.  We are talking about a WR that was an All-American, twice named all Conference (Big 12) and was name to the Big 12 All-Freshman team in college.  Kelly finished his college career with 144 catches, 2,285 yards and 21 TD catches.  What has been the issue with Kelly has been the same injury that's plagued him since his Senior year in college, and hampered him during the NFL Combine time.  He tried to workout during Oklahoma’s Pro Day, but the same injury hampered him and allowed him to run a disappointing time in the 40-Yard Dash (4.75 and 4.68).  Most categorized him as just a deep threat, but his route running has improved a bit since entering the NFL and so has his explosion.

The injury that Kelly has been hampered with is….  a hamstring injury.  See this injury is not as tricky as people make it out to be.  It is either a hamstring tendon strain, hamstring tendon tear, hamstring tendon rupture, hamstring strain (muscle) or hamstring tear (muscle).  I am not a doctor, nor a professional trainer, but this injury, unless there are other underlying health issues like I have experienced, should have been healed within a few weeks his rookie season.  But for some reason it lingered and carried over into last season.  And with the turnover of the training staff and strength and conditioning team, Kelly was poised to take the field last year, but an early decision to put him IR (injured reserves), didn’t allow him to play a down last year.  During that time Kelly healed and now he is set to take the field.  So what can you expect from him this season?

Expect a big-bodied target that will be able to run the short and medium routes.  Expect the production of a Possession Receiver (not a lot of down the field stuff, but a lot of catches 10-20 yards down the field.).  Expect a WR that will be called on to catch the jumpball in the Red Zone (the last 20 yards of the field).  When it is all said and done,  I expect 50+ catches, 900+ yards, and 7-9 TD’s.  Malcolm Kelly will be the #2 WR by the end of season.  Who will be the #1 WR on the Redskins?  Only time will tell, but if things hold to form, that will be Santana Moss.  And the Moss-Kelly tandem isn’t all that shabby.  I have seen worse.

IT WASN’T PRETTY…. BUT THE REDSKINS WON!!!

Donovan McNabb has a knack of attracting attention even when he tries to drift off into the background. This Sunday was unavoidable. In his return to Philadelphia, McNabb didn’t have the best passing game, but when you score more points than the other team, do you really care? In the first two possessions of the game, the Redskins scored. The best play between those two drives might have been Ryan Torain’s monster Touchdown. Poor Quinton Mikell took the brunt of that collision. But Donovan McNabb had a pretty floating Touchdown pass to Chris Cooley that put the Redskins up 14-0 early in the game. But things got really interesting after that.

If you ask me, had Michael Vick not gotten hurt, the Eagles may have sneaked away with a win Sunday. Kevin Kolb is a good QB, but doesn’t present the same problems that Michael Vick does. And Vick was making most of his plays from the pocket. That is something that we haven’t seen in all his years in the NFL. The Redskins Defense, who we have seen struggle in the past 2 weeks, came up huge in shutting down the very explosive DeSean Jackson. Jackson was a non-factor, but LeSean McKoy took over with 12 catches for 110 yards. How is that for McKoy who is a Running Back? Jeremy Macklin was also nonexistent. Brent Celek, Philadelphia’s stud at Tight End, was completely taken out of the game as well Sunday. This is where Michael Vick’s legs would have made the difference. Some of the play that Kolb ran for First Down’s, were good, it’s just that Vick would have gotten more yards on those plays. That may have been the difference. But for the Redskins the difference was made in the Offensive Backfield, by a virtual unknown, Ryan Torain.

I love finding guys like this. Ryan Torain is a guy that was brought in with no fanfare. This offseason Torain was brought in because Coach Shanahan signed him in the Denver before taking a break from coaching. Torain has been a hard worker. Torain is consistent. Torain is dependable. And when Clinton Portis was unable to go, Ryan Torain came in and not only finished runs, but finished the game. Torain only had 70 yards on 18 carries and one Touchdown, but the way Torain was running was something that has been missing. Portis runs hard, but in the past, there was a drop off when he came out the game. Now you have a guy behind Portis who runs just as hard, maybe harder, now you don’t have the drop off in the running game. Now Donovan McNabb doesn’t have to throw 50 times like the genius Eagles used to have him do. How big is it to give McNabb a running game? How big is it to have a talent like McNabb not feel like he has to do it all by himself. Slowly but surely, the pieces are falling in place. Washington might have the type of team to make a Playoff run.

At 2-2 this early in the season, there is a glimmer of hope. I am cool with a 9-7 season. It will mean that the Redskins have finished with a winning record for the fist time in 3 seasons. It will give the organization something to build on going into the 2011 season. Anything after 9 wins is huge. Anything after 9 wins may mean a Playoff birth. And the Post Season is something for which Donovan McNabb has a nose. Dare I say that Washington could sneak into the Playoffs this year and steal a win or two? We will see. They have a tough test this Sunday against the very good Green Bay Packers. Which Redskins team will show up? I would like the Defense from this past Sunday, to join the Offense from two weeks ago. If that happens, the Green Bay Packers are in trouble. But I think this game will be a close one. Who will win is anyone’s guess. But for the Redskins sake, this is a must win, because you need some momentum going into your showdown with the great Peyton Manning in two weeks.