Former Tiger Kelly Bryant was never going to be an NFL QB
No one should be surprised that former Clemson football quarterback Kelly Bryant has not signed a contract with an NFL team.
This is not a shot at Kelly Bryant. When he left Clemson football in 2018, he did so because it was best for him. College athletics are full of selfish adults from athletic directors to coaches and everywhere in between, so when a player does something deemed “selfish”, they should never be sorry.
Kelly was a great ambassador for Clemson football and will be again in the future, once he is able to put his pride to the side. He is a Clemson alumnus and has never done anything to embarrass himself, his family, or the University.
But this is about football.
From a football perspective, Kelly Bryant was not good enough. His record at Clemson was because he was carried by an incredible roster. His shortcomings were never magnified until he faced a team like Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and then he was exposed – and Coach Dabo Swinney knew it.
Not only did the coaching staff know it, but so did NFL scouts. Kelly Bryant simply was not a good quarterback. He transferred to the SEC and regressed across the board in areas that NFL teams judge and evaluate quarterbacks by.
As we saw in 2019 at Missouri, Kelly Bryant did not elevate the play of those around him and his team paid dearly for mistakes that he made during the game. This is not about having an arm strong enough because he does, but every NFL defensive lineman can throw a ball 70 yards.
This is about Kelly lacking the natural instincts that a quarterback has to have. He never had the right internal clock. We all watched as time and time again when his predetermined pre-snap read was covered, he simply took off. NFL scouts and coaches want to see a player go through his progressions and hit the third or fourth option; Kelly never did.
Kelly carried with him the love of the state. No in-state quarterback had started for Clemson since Woody Dantzler took over for Brandon Streeter. There was a lot of pride for South Carolinians that one of theirs was at the helm for the nation’s best program.
Next. Trevor Lawrence is in a realm of his own. dark
While you hate it for a great young kid, the NFL dream was never going to be a reality for him – no matter what his dad, Mariah Taylor, or any other media person said about him. To put it simply, if Tajh Boyd was not good enough for the NFL, Kelly Bryant was not going to be either.