See, Broncos Country? All Chad Kelly ever needed was a chance. Well, and a babysitter. And a parole officer. And another country.
Who said John Elway couldn’t draft quarterbacks? Because No. 7 correctly identified and plucked the hottest one chucking and ducking in professional football* right now.
And by “professional football,” of course, we mean in CANADIAN professional football (* = the CFL). And by right now, we mean … June.
Full disclosure: Grading The Week is under new management, and the boys upstairs are unabashed globalists. So, naturally, GTW 2.0’s first report card starts with us sneaking over the border. And, no, not the one just north of Virginia Dale.
Chad Kelly, face of the CFL? — C+
Trivia time: Which quarterback drafted by Elway as GM of the Broncos after 2013 threw for the most yards in his first two professional starts?
(“Jeopardy” theme plays in the background.)
Drew Lock? Uh-uh. 443 yards.
(“Jeopardy” theme gets slightly louder.)
What’s that? Trevor Siemian? Closer. He had 444.
(“Jeopardy” time’s up buzzer sounds.)
That would be Chad Kelly, nephew of NFL great Jim Kelly and a seventh-round selection by Elway in 2017 who eventually wandered into a stranger’s home and allegedly punched a videographer on his way outta Denver. Hurricane Chad put up a combined 477 passing yards over his initial two starts … in Canada.
The boys at GTW want to close out June by raising a frosty Labatt Blue in honor of Kelly, who’s making all kinds of friends in the Great White North as of late after finally finding his feet as a pro QB at the age of (checks notes) 29.
After a checkered American football stint that included getting thrown off a Clemson football squad that also featured (makes uncomfortable face) Deshaun Watson, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in Denver and getting suspended in Indianapolis, it took a country with the late Queen Elizabeth’s mug on its money (still) for Kelly to get his career on some kind of track again.
And to be fair to the kid, he’s run through that door like a moose with its backside on fire. In just his second CFL start, and first in an opening weekend for the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts, the former Broncos QB threw for 213 yards and rushed for three scores as the Argos smashed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 32-14, and performed to generally rave reviews.
Dave Naylor of TSN, Canada’s ESPN, even referred to Kelly in a recent piece as the “most important player in the Canadian Football League right now … and it’s not really that close.”
It took four years, two NFL teams (Broncos, Colts) and two nations for Hurricane Chad to find his footing, but better late than never. Just keep an eye on curfew come Halloween time, eh?
Michael Malone’s tattoo — A+
The boys upstairs also love Rocky, the lovable, acrobatic lion mascot of the IT NEVER GETS OLD TYPING THIS NBA champs. They do. I mean, they fear for his stinking life every home game, but they absolutely, unequivocally dig him. Lots. Lots and lots and lots.
That said, Maxie The Miner is next-level cool. For one, the Nuggets’ ‘70s mascot resembles a more cuddly Yosemite Sam (mama badgers are more cuddly, granted). For another, Cuddly Maxie was originally drawn spinning the very epitome of cool: the ABA’s old red-white-and-blue basketball, the one Dan Issel could shoot from anywhere on the floor and the one David Thompson would slam through the hoop after leaping to the moon and back first.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone is old-school cool, and the fact that he elected to get Maxie tattooed to his arm in honor of Denver’s first NBA title is a nod to everything awesome.
The Nuggs were one of just four ABA teams absorbed into the larger NBA in 1976, along with the Spurs (who’ve won five titles since), Nets (zero titles) and Pacers (zero titles). Malone doesn’t just make history ‘round these parts. He studies it. And for the rest of his life, whenever he goes biking in cut-off sleeves, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ask about the strange cartoon man on his left shoulder. And he can respond, time and again, with tales of the best basketball team the Front Range has ever seen.
