If Chad Kelly ends up making the Colts' roster this year, he's going to have sit out the first two weeks of the season.
The NFL announced on Friday that Kelly has been suspended two games for violating the league's personal conduct policy. Kelly's suspension stems from an incident in October when he was arrested in Denver on suspicion of first-degree trespassing.
The bizarre incident took place on the same night that Kelly had attended Von Miller's Halloween party. According to a police report from the arrest, Kelly stumbled into the house of someone he didn't know and proceeded to sit on their couch, which was especially alarming to the people living there, because they were also sitting on the couch. Kelly, who was dressed as a Cowboy, was also mumbling "incoherently."
Kelly eventually left the house when one of the residents started hitting him with an aluminum vacuum tube. At the time of his arrest, Kelly was playing for the Broncos, but the team decided to cut him less than 24 hours after he was charged.
The case was eventually closed in March when Kelly decided to plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of second-degree criminal trespassing. After the arrest, Kelly had a tough time finding NFL work, but he did eventually find a job on May 20 when the Colts decided to sign him.
Kelly actually has a connection with the Colts, which might have had to do with the team's decision to sign him. Kelly's uncle is Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, and during his career in Buffalo, Jim Kelly spent nine seasons (1986-94) as a teammate of Colts coach Frank Reich.
The younger Kelly has had some serious off-the-field troubles dating back to college and he seems to realize that he might not get many more chances if he doesn't make things work in Indy.
"At the end of the day, you have to put in enough work for [the Colts] to trust you," Chad Kelly said earlier this week, via ESPN.com. "It's going to take some time, of course, because there's been things that have happened in the past. But I'm up for the challenge to prove to these guys that I'm dedicated to this."
The 25-year-old seems to have finally realized that he's going to have to make some changes in his life if he wants to succeed in the NFL.
"In order to change your ways, you have to cut some things out," Kelly said. "You can't be hanging around the same people. You can't be doing the things that you thought you could get away with. I'm thankful for this opportunity, but I know in order to gain the trust of others, I have to show over time that this is who I am. This is who I truly am."
The former "Mr. Irrelevant" has been in the NFL since 2017 when he was selected with the 253rd and final pick in the NFL Draft. After spending his rookie year on injured reserve, Kelly returned in 2018 and played exactly one snap for the Broncos before being released in October, and he's a long shot to make the Colts roster.
The Colts only carried two active quarterbacks in 2018 -- Andrew Luck and Jacoby Brissett -- which means Kelly will likely be competing with Phillip Walker for the third spot. Walker has been with the Colts since 2017, and has spent each of the past two season's on Indy's practice squad.
