Texans Claim Viking CB Kelly

Texans | Kelly Claimed Off of Waivers - from www.KFFL.com
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 08:39:23 -0700

The Houston Chronicle reports the Houston Texans have claimed free agent CB Eric Kelly (Vikings) off of waivers from the Minnesota Vikings

[infantrycak]

Vikings Release Cornerback Eric Kelly

Fri Jun 18, 7:44 PM ET


EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - Cornerback Eric Kelly was released by the Minnesota Vikings (news) on Friday after failing to report for the final week of offseason workouts and asking for his release.



Kelly, who started 11 games as a rookie in 2001 and 12 games in 2002, was expected to be Minnesota's fourth cornerback.

Link.

Kelly was a 2001 3rd round pick.

Voted by teammates as the Ed Block Courage Award recipient for 2003

[A Texan]

Vikings fans on vikingsmessageboard.com describe him as a head case with marginal talent. Kelly is one of 3 players claimed by the Texans, the others are LB D.D. Acholonu and RB Derrick Knight. Acholonu had 3 sacks and caused 2 fumbles in Washington State's victory over Texas in the Holiday Bowl . He was a 6-3, 232 DE in college and had 16.5 sacks for the year.

[J-Man]

Originally Posted by A Texan

Vikings fans on vikingsmessageboard.com describe him as a head case with marginal talent. Kelly is one of 3 players claimed by the Texans, the others are LB D.D. Acholonu and RB Derrick Knight. Acholonu had 3 sacks and caused 2 fumbles in Washington State's victory over Texas in the Holiday Bowl . He was a 6-3, 232 DE in college and had 16.5 sacks for the year.

I've heard quite a bit of positive tidbits about Acholonu, I think he will be the "Rudy" candidate to make the team. There WR/DBs his size in the NFL, he will have to gain some he will need to gain some mass to make a real run.

[El Tejano]

Let's hear more about this Kelly guy. Were his starts due to someone else's injury or how did he lose his starting job?

[Fiddy]

Originally Posted by El Tejano

Let's hear more about this Kelly guy. Were his starts due to someone else's injury or how did he lose his starting job?

I believe his starts were because he was playing for the Vikings. I am not sure, but it could also be because we took Kenny Wright from them and Wright was a starter over there, so Kelly was the "wright" replacement.

[keyfro]

eric kelly is a decent corner...a good back-up...he will make things very interesting for faggins, vaughn, and simmons...cause one of them probably will not be on the roster since kelly's arrivial...as for the linebacker we picked up...he has talent...he just lacks size...we'll have to hope he can be productive when he gets bigger

[aj.]

From someone I trust who lives in Minneapolis and follows the Vikes closely:

"Yeah, I think he has good skills. He was hampered much of last year with nagging injuries but fared all right. He would have been the 3rd or 4th cb on the vikings this year and with proper attitude could have possibly moved into the #2 spot. Coverage skills need some refinement, but overall he is a decent nickel back. I did not expect the team to give in and release him."

Potential attitude problem corroborated but the marginal talent stuff on the message boards could very well be sour grapes. Maybe a marginal starter but from what it sounds like, he could be quality depth.

With the exception of backup SS, this secondary will have some serious talent and depth this year.

[Panther5407]

Originally Posted by keyfro

eric kelly is a decent corner...a good back-up...he will make things very interesting for faggins, vaughn, and simmons...cause one of them probably will not be on the roster since kelly's arrivial...as for the linebacker we picked up...he has talent...he just lacks size...we'll have to hope he can be productive when he gets bigger

The most likely out of those three to leave is simmons to me. Faggins is a good nickel so he will stay on. Vaughn is a solid gunner so simmons is the most likely to leave.

[Fiddy]

Is Vaughn a better gunner than Bell??? Either one of those could go because they dont really cover, they are strictly gunners and Kelly played special teams last year (dont know if he was a gunner though) and has better cover skills then both.

The coaches like Simmons because of his knowledge of the defense.

Faggins is going to make the opening day roster.

[El Tejano]

It seems to me Capers is trying to get the best out of his depth players. Rather than just going with what we got, he is going to bring out the maximum in the players we have by adding more competition in camp. This was something that wasn't really done the past two seasons.

I am curious about this Knight kid though. Pretty impressive stats.

[wags]

Knight was pretty good at BC. I don't know about his speed or anything, but I know he was a good back in college.

[Fiddy]

Originally Posted by wags

Knight was pretty good at BC. I don't know about his speed or anything, but I know he was a good back in college.

sounds really fast here

he also excelled in track, winning the Massachusetts 55-meter dash and 100-meter dash titles and was part of the state championship 400-meter relay squad

but not here:

Timed at 4.51 in the 40-yard dash (rubber track, indoors) and 4.71 in the 40-yard dash (outdoor turf)

dont put too much emphasis on the 40 time, though


http://www.nfl.com/draft/profiles/derrick_knight

[BornOrange]

Capers has said in the past that Simmons is quite valuable because he has experience as both the nickel back and dime back and has even played free safety. I don't know how different the responsibilities are for the nickel and dime back, but Capers made it sound like a pretty big deal.

I get the feeling that Simmons will not barely lose out for the final corner spot. Whoever takes his position is going to have to be a lot better because of Simmons' versatility.

[Porky]

Originally Posted by aj.

From someone I trust who lives in Minneapolis and follows the Vikes closely:

"Yeah, I think he has good skills. He was hampered much of last year with nagging injuries but fared all right. He would have been the 3rd or 4th cb on the vikings this year and with proper attitude could have possibly moved into the #2 spot. Coverage skills need some refinement, but overall he is a decent nickel back. I did not expect the team to give in and release him."

Potential attitude problem corroborated but the marginal talent stuff on the message boards could very well be sour grapes. Maybe a marginal starter but from what it sounds like, he could be quality depth.

With the exception of backup SS, this secondary will have some serious talent and depth this year.

Good stuff AJ, and I agree for the most part. But, I'm not sure SS is that weak. We have two guys injured true (Walker, Earl), but Mcree has experience at SS I do believe, and I know I read somewere that some feel he is better suited at SS than FS. I really think we will be okay at SS, especially if Walker fully recovers. I don't think we can expect much from Earl this year though.

Thanks for passing along the info! :o

[aj.]

I'm guessing Earl is ahead of Walker in his rehab, but he is still a rookie.

I'd be curious to read about McCree being better suited at SS. He's basically the same dimensions as R. Walker, and I could be wrong but from what I've seen, he doesn't seem to have the SS makeup or mentality, especially when it comes to run support or getting physical with guys over the middle. I'm sure he could fill in there in a pinch be he seems like a little more of a finesse guy than my image of an ideal SS.

[powda]

is vontez duff a distant memory already? if hes a productive return man that excludes another cb somewhere. just a thought.

mccree v. walker :

mccree has better range. (especially now with walker's injury)

walker was considered a ferocious hitter in college.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by aj.

I'm guessing Earl is ahead of Walker in his rehab, but he is still a rookie.

I'd be curious to read about McCree being better suited at SS. He's basically the same dimensions as R. Walker, and I could be wrong but from what I've seen, he doesn't seem to have the SS makeup or mentality, especially when it comes to run support or getting physical with guys over the middle. I'm sure he could fill in there in a pinch be he seems like a little more of a finesse guy than my image of an ideal SS.

I remember reading the SS thing as well, although it struck me as odd as well because his coverage skills seemed better as well. Then again, I was surprised to find that he was a LB in college so he has to have some run support skills. Walker though was turning into a special teams monster--in the Patriots game he had something like 5 of 8 or 9 tackles on kick coverage and blocked both the field goal and punt.

[jacquescas]

i'm excited to see how all this depth will help our special teams defense...

[Texansbacker]

Does the new pick-up RB Derrick Knight have any kick return ability?