Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

[HHURRICANE]

I know alot of you hated his new deal but remember that he was going to probably get paid more on the open market because he had little competition that year.

He's been a very good leader on this team especially in light of the fact that Schobel could care less.

He does a very good job with the media and has been very proud to be a Buffalo Bill.

He plays very hard for what his talent level is and although I hate "high motor" guys you can't have a team with 53 stars on it.

[Philagape]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

His commercials for that law firm are AWESOME

[HAMMER]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

You mean "Chris Freaking Kelsay" as the football genius zoners were calling him?

[Tatonka]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

he actually makes plays on occassion too.. he is your phil hansen basically. and guys like that help you win.

[Crisis]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

i remember i was so high on him busting out a couple years ago...then he played great in the houston opener...and just fell off after that.

we'll see. i'm rooting for him.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

he actually makes plays on occassion too.. he is your phil hansen basically. and guys like that help you win.

Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head.

I saw Chris Kelsay play in college. I did NOT want the Bills to draft him in the first round of that draft and was happy when they passed on him in the first round (I didn't care who they drafted at that point and certainly didn't know that McGahee would turn out to be such a jerk!).

While I hoped for more, based on what I saw of him in college, I thought that he would be another Phil Hansen: never really a top of the line star-quality player, but, eventually, a solid, complementary # 2 DE, like Hansen.

And, that is basically what he has become on the field.

Unlike a lot of people here, I never screamed or moaned when the Bills gave him the contract that they did--for one reason:

Back in 2005, when the Bills imploded and a lot of veterans--especially on the defense--which was supposed to be the strength of the team--were pointing fingers everywhere, blaming everyone else while they were basically quitting on the field (if you recall, I called the defense out for quitting in a preview article on the BZ front page before the third game of that season and by the end of the season writers for TBN and the D&C were saying exactly what I had), there were only two players on that defense who not only took responsibility for their own mistakes in talking to the media, but came right out and said that each and every player on the team needed to look in the mirror and take responsibility for his failures and for what he, himself, had to do. One of those players was London Fletcher. The other was Chris Kelsay.

We all know what a leader Fletcher was. We also know that, given his age and the amount of money that he was looking for, the Bills really couldn't afford to keep him when he left for Washington. Money aside, Fletcher was simply getting too old to be a fit in kind of team that Marv Levy and Dick Jauron were trying to build.

Kelsay, on the other hand, was not too old to still fit into that kind of team. While his play might not be star quality, Kelsay had the ability to help lead the group of young kids that they were trying to assemble. Teams need leaders. Young teams need them even more than veteran teams do. And, it is not always the stars who wind up being leaders on a team...sometimes it is a solid, high-motor type workman. (I can't tell you why, but there are guys (and ladies) that people just seem to gravitate to in a group, regardless of whether the person is the most accomplished in the group or not. And, if the person has the right personality, he will end up being a leader of that group. I've seen this happen in all kinds of settings, including with the teams that I have played on.)

Given the escalating salaries in the NFL, I don't know whether Chris Kelsay would have gotten the kind of money as a free agent that he got from the Bills. If the Bills over-paid him, though, it was not just because of his play on the field, but because of the leadership that he had already begun to demonstrate in the lockerroom.

Much has been made, rightfully so, perhaps, of the poor return that the Bills got in terms of sacks and all around performance from Kelsay last season relative to how much he was being paid.

However, I think that a lot of people--including the Bills and Kelsay, himself--underestimated the effect that losing Hargrove to suspension and Denney to injury had on both Kelsay and Schobel last season. Having to play almost every down during the first four games of the season IMHO may well have worn them both down so much that it adversely impacted their play for the rest of the season: the defensive system that the Bills play is predicated on the defensive linemen going all out on every play and playing them in waves to keep them fresh so that they can do that--which was something the Bills simply couldn't do with Hargrove and Denney out.

Additionally, at some point in the middle of the season, Kelsay got hurt (Schobel, too, although it appears his was less of an injury). But, because the team was already missing so many other players, he continued to try to play. I don't know how much it negatively impacted his play, but the injury was bad enough that he had to be placed on IR before the end of the season and had surgery to correct the problem when the season was over (BB.com also mentioned that Schobel had surgery after the season, too).

That being the case, I have not been critical of Kelsay's disappointing performance last season. I expect him to have a much better season this year now that he is healthy and the Bills have their full compliment of players surrounding him again.

I don't expect star-quality play from Kelsay. I expect him to be a Phil Hansen-type, solid complimentary player. And, I expect him to be a leader, in the lockerroom and in the huddle on the field.

The way I see it, the Bills are paying him a certain amount of the money that he signed for to be that Phil Hansen type player. And, the rest of what they are paying him they are paying him to be a leader on the team.

I think the fact that his teammates elected him, along with Donte Whitner, to be a captain this season is evidence that Kelsay is, in fact, seen by his teammates to be the leader that the Bills are paying him to be. I think the fact that Bills players have been quoted talking about how closely-knit and tight all of the players on the team are is evidence that the leaders of the team are doing a good job of leading the team off-the-field and in the lockerroom. That kind of leadership and tightness will ultimately have a positive impact on the field (the talent has to be there for it to show, but, if the talent is there, it will).

And, that says something about Chris Kelsay.


PS: I would not be at all shocked if M.Stroud and/or S.Johnson were to be elected as a captain of the team next year. Both--but Stroud in particular--seem to have the kind of personality that it takes to be a leader. And, Stroud has shown that he can lead with his play as well.

Mitchell, Stroud and S.Johnson all have leadership qualities and the types of personalities that you would really want to have on a team if you were putting a team together. I think the Bills did a very good job this offseason in bringing these three players. If all three can stay healthy this season, I can see their influence and the quality of the play of the team really blossoming next season (not that it won't be good this season--it will be, but I see the quality being even better next year).

[SquishDaFish]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

I agree

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

LTBF makes an awesome ponit that I left out. The signing was very important in light of the exit of players that we had as well.

Great point LTBF!!!

[OpIv37]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

My problem with Kelsay isn't so much with Kelsay himself, but the fact that he's another player that the Bills overpay and over-utilize. If you look at the stats over their careers, Kelsay and Denney are almost identical, and Denney makes a hell of a lot less money. And this is with Kelsay getting more playing time and playing with the starters where he's unlikely to draw double teams.

It's true that no team can have 53 superstars, but the Bills have overvalued a litany of players over the last few years. Kelsay, Reed and Royal come immediately to mind. They're guys who play a role and aren't completely without value, but they don't play the role the coaches try to force them to play and they don't justify their paychecks on the field.

You can use playing times or injuries an excuse, but I figured it out before and between Schobel and Kelsay, the Bills paid approximately $1.6 million PER SACK last year. That's not going to get the job done.

Kelsay did look good on Sunday, but he needs to sustain that level of play if this team is going to go anywhere.

[Meathead]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

white power!

[Tatonka]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

kelsay will be pushing 10 sacks this season.. im guessing 8-10. i think that last year was a tough spot and he was definately hurt, but gutted through it.

with a good cast around him now, he will, along with schobel, have a great season. mark it down.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

SO why did we need to draft a TOP DE if we were serious about making playoffs?

opinions change quickly around here.

[OpIv37]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

SO why did we need to draft a TOP DE if we were serious about making playoffs?

opinions change quickly around here.

well now that depends.

Kelsay has one good game and people forget about the entire season of bad games he had last year.

Whitner has like 19 mediocre to bad games in a row and people here still talk like he's Ed Reed on steroids.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

well now that depends.

Kelsay has one good game and people forget about the entire season of bad games he had last year..

thats not the point. The thread starter started a thread prior to thedraft insisting that if we are serious about making playoffs we should draft a top DE. You're not a playoff team if you are depending on a rookie DE to take us there.

Whitner has like 19 mediocre to bad games in a row and people here still talk like he's Ed Reed on steroids.

it goes both ways. There are some people here who wer so quick to put him down even though others here knew it was hard for an unexperienced player to be consistent without a DL.

[Dr. Lecter]

Re: Chris Kelsay has really impressed me.

You are freakin' obsessed with Whitner. Maybe, just maybe it is you. He is not the worst safety in NFL history (yes, hyperbole, Just like your Ed Reed comment)

BTW, it is debatable Kelsay is overpaid. Look at the salaries given out. Stats also do not tell the entire story and Denney plays more on 3rd down and passing situations leading to more opportunities for sacks.