Broncos cut Chad Kelly

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The Broncos have had enough of Chad Kelly.

Kelly, the backup quarterback who was arrested early yesterday morning for criminal trespassing, was cut by Denver today.

That’s a harsh punishment, but Kelly had to know he was out of second chances: He dropped to the very end of last year’s draft because of off-field problems when he was in college, and the Broncos surely warned him that he was going to be on a short leash.

There had been some talk that Kelly could start for the Broncos this year if Case Keenum continued to struggle, but now there’s no chance of that happening. Kevin Hogan will move up to No. 2 on the depth chart behind Keenum.

Kelly will be subject to waivers, which means any team that wants him can have him, paying him only the league minimum salary for the rest of this season. If there’s a team that thinks Kelly has the potential to be a starting quarterback some day, he could easily get claimed. But a lot of teams will decide he’s more trouble than he’s worth.

76 responses to “Broncos cut Chad Kelly

  1. The fact that he was drafted at all was a gift to the great Jim Kelly who was battling cancer from Elway. Elite quarterbacks is a small group. I thought it was kind that Elway did it with the last pick in the draft. Anyone they wanted they could get as an RFA.
    The kid got another shot because of family and he blew it.

  2. Sad.

    He ripped it up in preseason.

    Since they released him with no attempt to let this play out I am assuming the details were worse than those released publicly?

    Another guy with a million dollar arm and ten cent head.

  3. I don’t know if it was harsh punishment. While I do not agree with posters arguing the semantics of the case (who were not there or privy to the investigative elements, btw) I do think at some point the optics look bad. We don’t know what happened that night (could be bipolar disorder for all we know) but we do know that at some point he is a liability for the team. He wasn’t a starter, and he wasn’t going to be the starter. Let him go so he can get some help. That isn’t harsh. That is humane.

  4. Now is the easy time to take shots at Elway, so I’ll support him on this one. Everyone knows about which players have issues when they’re coming out of college. Elway was being a good guy and doing a favor for Jim Kelly. We’ve all been following Jim Kelly’s battle with cancer, and everyone is pulling for him. But Elway actually did something for the man that maybe gave him and his family something to be happy about. I’ve been critical of Elway, but not on this issue. Chad Kelly needs professional help with whatever he’s dealing with. It’s more than just a kid being a knucklehead. I’d actually like to see the Player’s Association step in and help handle some of these problems, if at all possible.

  5. Trade the Vikes a 1st or 2nd rd pick for Kyle Sloter. Or if you want Simean back, give us a 3rd rd pick. If the Vikes don’t extend Cousins after his 3 years is up, Sloter will be our starter.

  6. Football should be a distant second in priorities right now for him. He clearly has had a substance abuse problem and until he confronts and addresses it, problems for him will continue to mount.

  7. D Hammer says:
    October 24, 2018 at 11:11 am

    The Broncos QB situation is a complete and utter dumpster fire…
    ————————————
    Not really… Case Keenum has been underperforming, but he hasn’t been completely terrible. But they still need a better long-term solution. They aren’t going to have Peyton Manning fall into their laps again.

  8. The Kid can play, he’s got some serious fire to him. He just may not get a chance to show it now.

  9. I’d say get this guy some help, but I gotta think plenty of people have tried. Hope he lands on his feet and his support group doesn’t bail on him. Good luck man, welcome to the real world.

  10. Pulease. He was the last player taken in the draft. The Broncos invested nearly two years in him and he couldnt beat out Case Keenum? Not a big loss, here.

  11. How is it that one of the greatest QBs of all time cannot properly evaluate QB talent?

    Oh well. I hate the Broncos so any reason to laugh at them spares me from my own NFL misery.

  12. @mlhigh,

    The Broncs invested how much in Keenum during the off-season? He was going to be the starter in game 1 unless his arm fell off.

    Given the course of the season, I would not have been shocked for Kelly to be starting in a few games. Remember that Kelly was on IR all of last gear from an injury he suffered in college so he was basically a rookie this year.

  13. While John Elway hasn’t had the best of luck in selecting QB’s its hard to call him inept because he cut the last pick in the NFL draft. 7th rounders rarely make NFL rosters in the first place, let alone Mr. Irrelevant. The Chad Kelly experiment was a good risk by Elway.

  14. We don’t think Elway walks on water. He gets a pass from ownership because of history but has proven he is inept as a personnel evaluator of both players and coaches.

  15. So this guy was supposed to take over for the guy that the Vikings should have kept? See how dumb the Vikings should have kept Case Keenum argument sounds now?

  16. I honestly know nothing about the kids past….. never followed anything he did in college or things that got him in trouble off the field…. didn’t even know the Broncos drafted him…..
    My first bit of insight on the kid was the article yesterday…..I’m guessing as someone said above there maybe more to this than is currently known

  17. D Hammer says:
    October 24, 2018 at 11:11 am
    The Broncos QB situation is a complete and utter dumpster fire…
    —————
    The whole Bronco organization starting from the GM down to the training staff is a dumpster fire. If the owners family wasn’t fighting over who gets control of the team Elway would be back to selling cars already.

  18. He was the last pick of the draft… It’s not like Elway took him in the first round. How often does Mr. Irrelevant become a starter? It’s not a wasted pick or a terrible pick. The most notable Mr. Irrelevant for the last several years is Ryan Succop, a kicker.

  19. Something is just off in his head would not surprise me if he ends up in jail. From other reports I have seen the guy had multiple issues in college which is why his draft stock fell.

  20. “Since they released him with no attempt to let this play out I am assuming the details were worse than those released publicly?”
    __________________

    Sounds like the real problem was how he was acting at the team party. He reportedly got into it with a party guest and a security guard before stumbling off into the night to enter stranger’s homes.

  21. Bashing Elway for drafting this guy with the last pick in the draft is ridiculous. On talent alone he was definitely worth it. Kelly should have known he was on his last chance and if he didn’t then he’s not very bright. He has some talent. The problem is, he’s about as bright as a burnt out light bulb.

  22. I have a feeling the people who are saying Elway can’t evaluate quarterback talent are the same people who were saying that Kelly should be starting instead of Keenum. The kid’s problem isn’t talent, it’s off-the-field issues.

  23. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bills did sign him. And put him in counseling and think it will turn him around. People have to not only recognize they have a prob, but also that THEY are responsible for ruining their whole life, for change to be successful. He’s proven at this point he’s not there yet. I can’t understand the mentality of wanting to drink that much that badly to throw everything in your life that was good away. He now has nothing and in a legal mess. If all of this doesn’t wake him up then he’s just gonna be a waste product his whole life. Not sure what’s left to him for it to be any incentive.

  24. Guy has no one to blame for this but himself, he was in prime position to get some playing time (and potentially the starting job) if he kept his nose clean and did his job, instead he wasted it. If anyone wants to waste a roster spot on him be my guest.

  25. So the current backup for the Broncos was the third string QB for the Browns last year. The same Browns that didn’t win a game and had DeShone “29 turnovers” Kizer as the starter. I’m sorry Denver fans.

  26. Case Keenum will now play better now that he has no pressure of a backup QB trying to take his job.

  27. I still believe in Elway as a GM. He has one of the current top records in the NFL as a GM. BUT, let’s throw some shade on the legend. Most of his drafts have been terrible, his qb selection has been awful, and Vance Joseph?? Missing playoffs. Come on 7, let’s go.

  28. No way to know what’s truly up with this kid, but trouble follows him wherever he goes. Is he simply an entitled brat? Substance abuse? Bipolar? Who knows. I hope he gets help. If he gets his act together he’ll get another shot, he just needs to make the most of it.

    The NFL will obviously forgive a whole hell of a lot if you can play.

  29. Would love to see the Bills pickup Chad Kelly , he would be home and with family who could help with the counseling needed plus he would have his uncle to encourage him and help him.
    Come home Chad !!

  30. So I get that this guy has a past but what do we know so far? He probably had a few too many and got obnoxious at the party. He then gets kicked out and stumbles accidentally into someone’s house. Probably didn’t know where he was and thought it was his or a buddy’s house. He didn’t do anything dangerous in the house. It just sounds like he was stupid drunk.
    So I’ll be waiting to see if anything else comes out because if this is it then I think you get the guy some counseling. Support the young man. Kicking him to the curb isn’t helping this guy. It’s adding fuel to the fire.
    Well done Elway. Classy move.

  31. In Denver, Kelly walks in, sits on a couch, lady panics and call police.
    If Buffalo signed him, Kelly walks in, sits on couch, lady offers him a beer and ask how Uncle Jim is….

  32. This sucks. Every other QB in every year in every round taken by every team except the Broncos is a HOFer! I can’t believe it.

  33. It’s funny some Bills fans think Buffalo makes sense for him. Unless the Bills were going to go all-in on the guy and try to make him their franchise QB (and I don’t mean temporarily for this waste of a year,) Chad Kelly is a horrible idea…completely ignoring his off field issues and whether he’s good enough to actually be a franchise QB. The second any QB in front of him struggles, the fans will call for Kelly. Hell, plenty will call for him even if the guys in front of him aren’t struggling. He’d be a constant QB controversy. So unless they’re going to make him the starting QB, he’d be a bad plan for the Bills…

  34. After just reading his bio in regards to all the trouble he has been in and not charged or put in jail, this guy is beyond the time to grow up stage and needs to be forgotten as a former player.
    I cant see him landing on anything even a Canadian team in need of a tackling dummy

  35. “That’s harsh. All he did was walk into the wrong home. Not like he assaulted nobody”

    ————————–

    Actually, he did. Apparently he got into a fight with someone at Miller’s party (two someones, I believe) before walking into the strangers’ home later. I would wager that the Broncos could have dealt with the trespassing while high dilemma, but assaulting someone at the team party (who may very well have been a teammate, an executive, or someone’s significant other) would certainly be too much, both in consideration of where it happened and the actual charge itself.

  36. “That’s harsh. All he did was walk into the wrong home. Not like he assaulted nobody”

    If a complete stranger walked into my home and sat down next to me, I’d beat him with whatever was handy. You can’t downplay in any way what he did. He’s used up all of his chances to get his head on straight.

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