Kameron Kelly went from being a standout player in a defunct minor league that shut down to starting the season opener for a Super Bowl contender during 2019. Then he got himself arrested, and likely killed his NFL dreams.
Originally signed after the 2018 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, Kelly failed to make their 53-man roster, and would sign with the San Diego Fleet in the Alliance of American Football, where he would be among the league leaders in interceptions.
He signed an offseason contract after the league folded with the Pittsburgh Steelers, beginning to earn top backup reps. With Sean Davis dealing with a number of injuries going back to the spring, he was afforded many opportunities to work with the starters, and then he ended up starting with Davis down for the season opener.
Davis returned thereafter, was injured again, and the Steelers went out and got Minkah Fitzpatrick. Kelly would continue to play some in dime packages, even ending up with an interception, but he was released following the loss to the Buffalo Bills as a result of his arrest.
Kelly got into an altercation with police in the south side of the city and was ultimately arrested, charged with making terroristic threats, among other charges, after he was kicked out of a bar. The Steelers waived him the same day and promoted Marcus Allen from the practice squad.
Yesterday, the former AAF product pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, after the charges of resisting arrest and making terroristic threats were withdrawn. He was given time served as part of the agreement.
According to the report, Kelly, I would hope in an inebriated state, got into a disagreement with an employee of the bar after the jukebox would not play the song that he wanted, threatening the employee. It is reported that officers once involved punched him in the face multiple times to “gain control” of the situation—which sounds like an excuse to punch somebody in the face, to be honest.
It’s hard to imagine him getting another chance in the NFL, though it’s certainly not impossible. He’s such a fringe player that these sorts of athletes come and go once they run into trouble. See Cedrick Wilson, who was released by the Steelers after being arrested for simple assault, pushing his girlfriend. He never even sniffed a football field again after that.
Unfortunately, in his situation, you simply have to know better, and be better. He just threw away potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even a million or more, if he could have carved out a career of a couple of years, because of a jukebox not playing his song and the stupid decisions he made stemming from that.
