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DT Tommy Kelly, Oakland Raiders

HT: 6-6, WT: 300, Born: 12-27-1980, College: Mississippi State, Drafted: ---

2008 Projections

Best Case

The big question surrounding Kelly is where will he line up? After signing a huge new contract over the off-season, most experts have ignored the fact that all 5 of his starts in '07 came at defensive end. All we have heard is how the Raiders overpaid for an interior lineman. Kelly is a very versatile player who totaled 9 sacks over his first two seasons with Oakland, many of which coming while lining up at DE. In '06 he was moved inside full time where he finished among the leagues leading tacklers at the DL positions. Unfortunately he was unable to provide the inside pass rush that Oakland had counted on. The best case scenario for Kelly is that he returns to the lineup as an every down end. In that situation he could again push the 50 tackle mark and has the potential to record 6-8 sacks. 

Worst Case

With the retirement of Warren Sapp there is a lot of speculation that Kelly will move back inside and play the 3 technique tackle that Sapp has manned over the past couple of seasons. Kelly has already proven his value as a tackling machine from the interior position where he totaled 54 stops in '06. Unfortunately he could only muster 3 sacks over his 16 starts in that season. Working from the 3 technique would be a plus but it's unlikely that Kelly will have nearly the box score impact while working from the inside. Unless of course you are looking at him in a tackle requires scoring system.

Outlook

Everything rides on how Kelly is used, what positional designation he is given in an owners particular league and the lineup requirements of that league. Chances are most league hosting sites are going to designate Kelly as an interior lineman regardless of how he is actually used. For owners in leagues that breakout the DL positions and require interior linemen, this fact is going to make Kelly a very valuable asset. He will make a lot of tackles from either position but if he gets an opportunity to play DE full time Kelly should be a 45+ tackle guy and add 5-7 sacks. Making him a solid option as a backup DE in most leagues. It's very noteworthy that Oakland has done very little to further address the DE position. Free agent Kalimba Edwards has been a marginal starter at times for the Lions and Greg Spires is no more than an adequate space holder with starting experience. The only other help at the position being rookie 6th round pick Trevor Scott. It's looking good for Kelly!

Writeups last modified: 2008-06-02 15:15:18