Kelly "The Truth" Washington

[spain]

Any Cincy homers want to take a stab at how you think this guy will do this year? Andy chance he supplants TJ Housh at wr2 in Bengal land?

[BigTen]

Probably not even close to the huge numbers Reggie Williams will

[CaGamblers]

NO!

[The Misfit]

I don't listen to sports talk radio anymore, so maybe someone like Doggy could better fill you in on the latest gossip from camp.

 

What I do know is that just a few weeks ago he was rumored to be cut -- Chris Henry and Tab Perry were drafted, of course, and some people were not pleased with his "hot dog" attitude, which included his unwillingness to play on special teams. For instance, at the first open house practice back in mid-June, Kelley whipped out his first round "dance" after a 20-yard catch. In spring practice, for crissakes.

 

But the kid has speed and still does stuff to wow the coaches.

 

In the new depth chart released today for the first preseason game, he's listed second to TJ, ahead of Henry and Perry is no where to be found.

 

Kelley's had a great camp so far. From Saturday's practice game:

 

Washington caught Palmer’s only touchdown pass of the day when he double-tapped his feet just inside the end zone’s back line for a seven-yard touchdown on third-and-goal after he got behind safety Reggie Myles (he finished with five catches for 43 yards) on a play he was the last option. Houshmandzadeh made his only catch a 22-yarder that set up Washington’s touchdown.

 

“I think Cliff Russell has really done well for himself the last couple of days and maybe the younger guys have to pick it up a little bit,” said offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. “There’s no way (Perry) will ever catch it up this year because he missed those 14 days. That will never be caught up, but he has to take it upon himself to spend the extra time to do it and catch up because he’s in a battle to make the team and try to get playing time.”

 

Washington simply won’t go away. Left for the waiver wire when Houshmandzadeh signed his four-year, $12 million deal back in March, Washington has jumped into Peter Warrick’s vacuum this camp. On Saturday, “The Squirrel” proved he can migrate to Georgetown when he broke out his end-zone dance for the first time at training camp after his touchdown.

 

“I haven’t had too many balls thrown my way, but today I was able to take the opportunity of a couple,” said Washington, who also caught an 18-yarder. “Chad had a good performance yesterday and I wanted to come out and have a good one today. T.J. did some good things today. As veteran players, we just want to set examples to the young guys. The game is so much faster after it’s out here. Some of the things we had problems with yesterday we made improvements today. We didn’t have a lot of energy (Friday) like we normally do for practice, but we got it together and made some good catches and ran some good routes today. The young guys are usually going to make the assignment errors, and that’s only because they’re young.”

 

 

So, to answer your question ... Sure, it's possible. He has more TDs in his first two years than CJ, and averages more yards per catch than after TJ his first two years. I tend to think it won't happen, though, because while the kid has talent and speed, he had some issues breaking away from receivers last year, and obviously he's a bit of a head case.