Dare to Dream – 2023 NFL Draft

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I have written 213 articles and published 285 articles on the site leading up to 2023 NFL Draft, but this is the most important one.

The thing I love most about the NFL Draft is the hope that surrounds it.

That’s why these draft moments are so touching, watching the reactions of these young men hearing their names called.

The amount of struggle and work that goes into these moments – – only they know.

Hope.

It’s the most profound word in the English language, and it’s the reason I launched this site last August 30. Beyond all the passion driven talk of superstars and busts, what matters most is hope.

What matters more than anything to me when you visit First Round Mock, I want you to know there is hope.

There is hope for you.

What is your dream?

I want you to answer that out loud right now – – to yourself.

Whatever your dream is, I want you to know it is possible…

I don’t care what you’re age is or what your circumstances are…

Listen, if I got hired by the New York Jets to work in Pro Scouting after playing one year of high school football (at left bench) and failing out of a small community college, I know for a fact your dream is possible as long as you keep trying and you refuse to give up.

Daring to dream…again

Can you believe I was working at a bank when I got hired by the New York Jets?

I had no connections and my last name didn’t carry any weight in league circles. I had written a self-published 1998 350-page NFL Draft book and used every penny I had to send three copies overnight mail to every General Manager, Director of Player Personnel and Head Coach in the NFL with no guarantees.

That’s how it happened for me.

I got invited to interview with the Jets, but it’s not the interview that means the most to me, it was the call..the call like we will see these young men get tonight.

I still remember the words Scott Pioli said to me, then the Jets’ Pro Scouting Director…

“Well, with that said, I would like to welcome you aboard as the newest member of the New York Jets!”

I got off the phone, called my Grandma and we celebrated together. It was her encouragement that even got me to this point.

I was in the NFL!

I really was in the NFL!

My high school yearbook is filled with students writing that I would never become an NFL scout.

…and yet that’s what I became.

Life takes many twists and turns

Little did I know during my first month on the job I would be diagnosed with testicular cancer, and during my third season, my first born daughter, Bailey Hope would be diagnosed with Neuroblastoma cancer.

What I didn’t know was that my immaturity would off-set my passion.

I never thought my time in the NFL would end, but it did.

It’s all I ever wanted to do since the time I was eight years old.

My daughter passed away during my fourth and final season in the NFL, and I found myself on the backside of my dream at 27 years old starting over.

Getting away from the game

Shortly after my time ended in the league, the Patriots won their third Super Bowl.

I will never forget breaking down and crying watching all the guys I had worked with at the Jets out on the field celebrating.

I looked outside and watched the snowfall through my tears.

What could have been.

Here I was bouncing around at odd jobs. Being out of the league was so painful and so disillusioning for me, I turned off the game I loved more than anything from 2004-2006.

I had to.

Maybe there’s a chance?

Starting in 2006, the NFL started coming back into focus.

Possibilities of getting back in with the Cardinals in 2006 and the Eagles in 2012 fell through.

It’s then when devastation hit.

Here we go again

After my time with the Jets ended, I had moved back to Minnesota and remarried in 2003. Believe it or not, after being told by doctors during my cancer that I’d probably never be able to conceive, I was blessed with four more miracle children.

In 2012, my youngest son, Isaiah James had a massive seizure, and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital.

That’s when doctors discovered his brain tumor.

Over the following year, he went through 300 seizures.

I will never forget kneeling next to his “bunkie bed” as he called it, praying for God to spare the life of my son the night before his brain surgery to remove the tumor.

Close to losing hope

My son made it through his surgery, but it wasn’t too long after I came home to a “Dear John Letter.”

Thirteen years of marriage were over, and the four kids were gone and they were moved across the country by their mother.

All I remember was losing 30 pounds I didn’t have to lose in the first month they were gone, and I came closer to giving up than I’ve ever come.

I got down on my knees on the night of my birthday and begged God to end my life.

That year of separation came to a merciful end in 2014, and the divorce papers arrived.

My family was never coming home again.

Reason to hope again

Her name is Samantha.

We were married April 16, 2016. She had four children of her own who she entrusted to me to become part of my life.

From the time we met she said there were three things she loved listening to me talk about; God, football and her.

I tried not to think about football, it was just too painful because I wanted it so badly, but I guess my love for it still came out when I talked about it.

The Dream

In 2017, I had a dream one night, and the dream was as real as watching television.

In this dream, I was the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns.

I woke up from the dream and the Holy Spirit said to me, “Write a card to the owner of the Cleveland Browns and tell him can put together a Hall of Fame staff within three weeks if given the chance, and send him a copy of your book (Whatever it Takes published in 2013).

So I did.

Three weeks later, he responded and he asked me for my ideas.

It resulted in me writing a 166-page proposal promising to win the Super Bowl for the Browns.

All told, we spent over $100,000 in time and money in the pursuit of the dream. We even flew to Cleveland, uninvited by faith and faith alone, and walked into the front doors of the Browns’ facility asking to meet with Mr. Haslam.

Of course, we were turned away, but it did get me back in touch with my football dream.

The Washington Redskins are now on the clock

In January 2019, Samantha started encouraging me to send my book to the Redskins.

That was my childhood team.

I didn’t really want to do it, even though the entire ten years I was writing it, I kept having this thought that my book would lead to an interview with the Redskins.

I was just too damn discouraged, and I didn’t want want to send out another book. It’s too much. It’s too hard when nothing happens again.

She kept telling me I needed to send it. So, I did.

Nine months later, on a Sunday morning we were laying in bed watching reality TV when my phone rang.

“703-726-7000”

I knew the number by heart.

It was the team I loved.

“Hello Daniel,” the man’s voice said on the other end of the phone.

I responded, “Yes, that’s me.”

He said, “Bruce Allen, President of the Washington Redskins, how are you doing today?”

I about fell over.

Allen said my book had come to his attention somehow and he had read it cover to cover. He said he wanted to sit down with me and find out what I thought they should do as a team.

The Redskins flew me out to Washington for a dream weekend that included an hour and a half interview with Allen in his hotel suite.

He said he’d call me after the season…maybe a position in scouting, maybe in coaching…

Allen was fired four months later on Black Monday.

I broke down in Samantha’s arms.

Moving to Key West

We regrouped and moved to our dream spot, Key West Florida.

While here I’ve written for Sports Illustrated Lions, 49ers and Jets. I’ve also had the opportunity to be on hundreds of podcasts around the world, as well as ESPN and Fox Sports Radio. I even had the chance once to be on Linda Cohn’s show.

I had told Samantha before we moved here, that my second chance in the NFL would in Key West.

This October, I turn 50.

At a time many are starting to think ahead to retirement, I’ve been working 17 hours a day six days a week to launch this site we used the rest of our savings to start.

There’s a dream to catch.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve envisioned the moment many times.

The moment when I get my second chance in the NFL.

Whatever your dream, don’t give up.

I haven’t.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated New York Jets and he is the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @firstroundmock.