This weekend the Arizona Cardinals will hold their mandatory rookie mini-camp. It will be the first look the coaches will get of the rookies on the field. The seven recent draft picks will be there, as will the undrafted rookies the Cardinals have added (and will announce sometime Tuesday). They will also have a number of players present on a tryout basis -- some rookies, some unsigned veterans.
One such tryout player is known locally -- Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly. He visited the Cardinals before the draft and, after not having been drafted, will try and make the 90-man offseason roster with this three-day tryout at the team's Tempe facility.
Kelly was a three-year starter at Arizona State. The Sun Devils won 28 games over three seasons with him at the helm.
The 6-2, 210-pound quarterback is not considered NFL talent. He is mobile and intelligent, but does not have an NFL arm and does not always show great poise in the pocket.
Having watched every game of his at ASU (I am a season ticket holder), with work, his ceiling is a Alex Smith or Matt Flynn. He is smart enough and disciplined to perhaps become an adequate backup or spot starter, but for him to even crack the 90-man offseason roster, he would have to show Bruce Arians he is better than Chandler Harnish, a quarterback who was actually drafted and with whom Arians has already worked in Indianapolis.
The most likely scenario is he will work the weekend and then go back to his studies at Arizona State, where he is in the Sports Law and Business program.