Malcolm Kelly knew the end was coming. He even did his farewell interviews before the Redskins officially released him Tuesday, giving him an injury settlement.
“As much as I love this thing, I’m not going to go out here and kill myself,” Kelly said. “It’s one thing to have one injury, man, but to have as many as I’ve had, it’s to the point where it is what it is.”
The Redskins training staff, according to multiple sources, warned the front office about Kelly’s knee and his durability before the 2008 draft. They selected him anyway. Kelly missed time in his first season with a hamstring injury, but he was healthy in 2009 and caught 25 passes for 347 yards.
The Redskins placed Kelly on injured reserve in 2010 with a hamstring injury. He then injured his right foot early in training camp. Thus a staff that did not draft him could not evaluate him. Kelly, who finishes his Redskins career with 28 catches, entered camp having lost nearly 15 pounds and was upbeat about his chances.
“When I hurt my foot, I think it was almost like, ‘All right, whatever.’ I got upset about it a little bit, but it’s like, shoot, maybe it just is what it is,” he said.
“He looked like he was in excellent shape,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “But we weren’t able to watch him on the field.”
His release means six of the 10 players drafted in 2008 are no longer with the Redskins. And none of the remaining four project to starters: tight end Fred Davis, safeties Kareem Moore and Chris Horton and linebacker Rob Jackson. Moore might open the season on the physically unable to perform list and Horton is in danger of being cut.
And this class is why there shouldn’t be much attention paid to how many rookies make the final roster this season. Of the Redskins 12 rookies, there’s a chance half won’t make the roster. But that means they have more depth than a year ago. Also, in 2008 nine of the 10 rookies did make the final roster. That did not mean it was a good draft class, as the ensuing years have confirmed.
