Chad Kelly was not among 330 prospects invited to the NFL combine in a list released Wednesday, but the agents for the former Ole Miss Rebels quarterback said the NFL has not provided a reason for why Kelly’s invitation was rescinded and that Kelly might still travel to Indianapolis later this month.
“We have an official invite to come to the combine; we got a flight booked,” one of Kelly’s representatives, Vance McAllister, told “The Tim Graham Show” on 1270 The Fan in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday. “He has a jersey number there waiting on him, and until we get a written disinvite — or whatever you want to call it — from the league, we’ll be in Indy. We’ll show up, and they’ll have to tell Chad ‘no’ then, because they’re obviously not willing to put it in writing to tell Chad ‘no’ now.”
Kelly’s representatives, McAllister and Duray Oubre, said the NFL combine sent Kelly an invite Jan. 6 and arranged travel for him. The agents received a call from combine director Jeff Foster last Thursday informing Kelly that the NFL rescinded his invitation.
“The only response that we’ve been able to get in voicemails from [NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent] is that he will not discuss the details of it,” McAllister said.
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This is the second year the NFL will not permit into the combine players for which a background check has revealed “either a felony or misdemeanor conviction” for domestic violence, sexual assault or weapons charges, in addition to players who refuse a background check.
Kelly was charged with resisting arrest, menacing and several other counts following an altercation outside a Buffalo nightclub in December 2014. He later agreed to 50 hours of community service as part of the noncriminal charges, which Kelly’s agents said is not equal to a criminal or misdemeanor conviction.
“It seems like this is one of those cases where the NFL and Troy Vincent have decided again to not gather all the facts and make a decision, shoot from the hip, and we cannot get a clarification as to why,” McAllister said. “Chad is being singled out and being made example of, for what? It definitely ain’t domestic abuse, and it definitely ain’t violent crime.”
Kelly’s agents said his uncle, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, reached out Wednesday to the NFL to seek answers about his nephew’s status for the combine.
“We don’t know this for sure, but it could be marketing strategy,” Oubre said. “The NFL is a billion-dollar brand. We’ve become more concerned with making sure that we have the proper dressing in relation to producing a good [product] or advertising a good [product]. If they feel like a player like Chad Kelly will be there, and they don’t want certain things to be told or be heard or discussed because for whatever reason they feel like that doesn’t add to the brand of the NFL, then they could take preventative measures against him and discriminate against him.”
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