Kyu Blu Kelly goes to Baltimore Ravens in 5th Round of 2023 NFL Draft
On Saturday, Stanford senior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the 5th round (157th overall pick) of the 2023 NFL Draft. Kelly was the second Stanford player selected in the draft following Michael Wilson (3rd Round to Arizona Cardinals). In my breakdown of Stanford’s 2023 NFL Draft prospects, I wrote of Kelly:
Kyu Blu Kelly played four years on The Farm, deciding to come back for his senior season. He has ideal size for a cornerback at 6’1”, 188 pounds and has NFL bloodlines thanks to his dad Brian, who played 11 years in the NFL. You can tell that Kelly has been around the game for a long time and that he really has a high football IQ.
Kelly is used to going up against the best receivers in the country, always taking on the top receiver on opposing teams during his time at Stanford. He never shies away from a good challenge and really enjoys pushing himself against the best receivers that he can face. He has a great mentality and does a good job of moving on to the next play if he makes a mistake. He has a short memory and doesn’t let anything rattle him.
His biggest weaknesses are interceptions and a tendency to sometimes get beat deep. In four years at Stanford, Kelly had only three interceptions. While a lot of that is due to him not getting many good looks since teams tried to avoid throwing his way, he could have picked off more balls than just three during those four years. Also, after having 13 pass deflections as a junior, he had less than half of that as a senior with six. His ball-hawking skills certainly could improve, though the 13 pass deflections as a junior showed the potential is certainly there.
And then quickly on getting beat deep, there were some moments where he got beat for a big gain and it seemed to happen more often than it should have for a corner of his status. David Shaw defended Kelly when asked about this saying all the great players get beat every now and then and that for the most part, Kelly locks down his assignment just fine. While I’ll accept that as a defense, it still seemed to me at least like Kelly gave up more deep balls than he should have.
In regard to his draft projection, I think we’re looking at a guy who could go as high as the 4th round and as low as the 6th round. Given his physical tools and NFL bloodlines, somebody is going to want to give him a chance.
Kelly went about where I thought he would go. Right in the middle of my projection. As I wrote above, the Ravens are getting a cornerback with tremendous physical tools and upside due to his NFL bloodlines. Kelly understands the game really well and will be one of those rookies who conducts himself like he’s a veteran. Seeing what Kelly does in a Ravens uniform is going to be a lot of fun.
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