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Jack Kelly is not making the Giants’ roster call easy
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- Jack Kelly is not making the Giants’ roster call easy
Jack Kelly plays defense in the Giants' preseason opener.
Jack Kelly was a sixth-round pick. That usually means a rookie arrives needing to win special-teams snaps first and wait for the depth chart to open up. The Giants have not handed him anything, but he has made the call more complicated than it looked in April.
Kelly had five tackles, including two solos, in the preseason opener against Minnesota. Earlier in camp, he broke up two throws in one practice while working into coverage. For a linebacker taken 193rd overall, those are the kinds of plays that keep a coach from turning the page.
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The Giants are heading toward joint work and a preseason game in Miami on Aug. 22. Kelly does not need a headline play to stay in the hunt. He needs to keep lining up correctly, play fast on teams, and keep showing he can run with the situations that got him noticed at BYU.
Giants have a real linebacker decision with Jack Kelly
Kelly has an active roster spot today, but the final 53 will force the Giants to compare him with veterans who have been through this part of August before. The rookie's 4.57-second 40-yard dash helps explain why the club has tried him in coverage rather than limiting him to downhill work.
Jack Kelly takes part in a Giants offseason drill.
I would take the five tackles for what they are: a good preseason start, not a promise. The more important part is that he has been around the ball in practice and then showed up again when the game started. It is how a late pick keeps a job conversation alive.
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The Giants' roster has enough big names that a player like Kelly can disappear from the daily chatter. He has not disappeared on the field. Two more steady weeks would make it hard to call him a developmental stash and move on.
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