Chad Kelly showing guts going to Scouting Combine after invitation rescinded

The Scouting Combine, arguably the most important piece of the evaluation process prior to the NFL Draft, is next week in Indianapolis.

Originally, former Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly was one of the players invited to put his skills on display at Lucas Oil Stadium. But the league rescinded that invitation after doing a little more digging into his off-the-field transgressions.

The NFL is taking its personal conduct policy more seriously that ever — the infamous Ray Rice situation seems to be where this all started — and fighting a public relations battle with regard to the kinds of people it allows to play on Sundays. Background checks are a bigger part of the equation than they used to be.

Upon taking a deeper look into his incident at a Buffalo nightclub in January of 2015, the league changed its mind on Kelly.

However, the one-time Rebel is planning to make the trip to the Hoosier State anyway. After all, he already had a ticket booked to Indianapolis International Airport and was preparing for the event like all the other QBs.

While he won’t be one of the 15 signal callers working out for all 32 franchises next Saturday, nothing is stopping Kelly — or individual organizations, for that matter — from setting up informal meetings with prospective employers at the next level. For many players, the interviews are more important than the on-the-field drills anyway.

That’s certainly the case for Kelly. Scouts have more reservations about his temperament than they do his talent.

One way or another, he’ll never be viewed as one of the elite passers available. As of right now, the only threats to come off the board in Round 1 are Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer, North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.

Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

That being said, Kelly is unquestionably a better prospect than combine invitees like Texas A&M’s Trevor Knight and Minnesota’s Mitch Leidner. According to the experts at CBS Sports, they’re destined to be undrafted free agents. Kelly — largely due to character concerns — is currently projected to hear his name called in Round 6.

Even though he was still recovering from a knee injury and unable to participate, Kelly was on hand for the Senior Bowl last month.

Whatever stigma he had surrounding him at the time has now been amplified. Kelly has reached pariah status for being invited to the combine only to have said invite taken away. Teams have yet another reason to be hesitant about drafting him.

To his credit, Kelly has decided to do something about it — getting on that airplane takes guts. On the bright side, since he can’t step foot inside the facility, he won’t be subjected to a formal session with the media. Obviously, his entire time at the podium would’ve been spent answering questions about being snubbed.

Instead, he can dedicate his time in Indy to knocking on as many hotel doors as possible. Several teams need quarterbacks. Some will want to talk to him.

Once the combine is comfortably in the rearview mirror, Kelly can concentrate his efforts on the upcoming Pro Day in Oxford and whatever private workouts his agent can set up before draft weekend. There’s no reason why he won’t perform well.

Will it make a difference? That remains to be seen. One advantage Kelly has is that he lines up at the game’s most important position. Had he been a middle-of-the-pack wide receiver prospect — teammate Damore’ea Stringfellow comes to mind — then coaches and general managers would’ve been more apt to ignore him altogether.

It’s a bold move. Kelly would be wise to channel his inner Don Draper: “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.”

John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.