Nyjalik Kelly’s first preseason showing gave the Packers a little bit of everything: flashes, raw tools, and plenty of room to grow.
The undrafted free agent out of UCF signed with Green Bay this spring, and his profile already hinted at why the team brought him in. He’s a long-armed athlete with strong explosive marks in his RAS score, and the clearest route onto the roster is as a pass rusher. The college production had its moments, though it came with some inconsistency.
Against the Packers’ second-team defense, Kelly logged 10 snaps at edge defender, according to Justis Mosqueda’s charting. Early on, he looked like a pretty standard Wide-9 rusher: aligned outside the widest player on the line, tasked with getting after the quarterback or setting the edge.
The toolbox is there, but the plan isn’t always. He’ll flash a cross-chop, a spin, a Eurostep, and other moves, but the sequence doesn’t always look connected from snap to snap.
It can feel a little like he’s trying everything to see what sticks.
There’s also some hesitation in his game right now. A false step before he fires.
A brief setup against the tackle that costs him a beat. Those kinds of issues can clean themselves up with more reps, and that’s the hope as the preseason continues.
Kelly also got caught up in misdirection more than once. At times, it looks like he’s so locked in on carrying out his assignment that he isn’t fully tracking the play around him. That’s a tough adjustment, and it’s part of the jump from college to the NFL.
But the encouraging stuff is real too. When his strength and recognition do show up, they pop.
On one run play, he lined up on the right side in a four-point stance, took on the tackle, stood him up, shed the block and finished on the ballcarrier. He showed the same kind of action again on another rep, knocking back the tight end before shedding to make the tackle.
Another clip showed the jolt in his hands as he rocked the tight end backward.
His burst is noticeable as well. On one snap, he got off the line quickly and dipped underneath the tackle.
On another, his length showed up with a one-arm attack before he ducked under on a direct path to the quarterback. He ended up tripped up after knocking knees, so it didn’t become a sack, but the initial move was promising.
That’s the story with Kelly right now: a player with an intriguing skill set and enough flashes to make you wonder what he could become in a limited role this season. His long arms could also translate on special teams, even if that’s not the main focus here. He’s still a work in progress, though, and the next two preseason games should tell us more about where he’s headed.
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