The Las Vegas Raiders are now on the Clock

I took one full day off at the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. Day three of the 2025 NFL Draft concluded on Saturday, April 26, 2025, around 7 p.m. I took that Sunday, the 27th, off, and then I was back at it by Monday the 28th. That’s when I began evaluating LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier’s 2024 game film, in preparation for the 2026 NFL Draft, and I published that evaluation on April 30, 2025.

Six to seven days a week⎯

17-20 hours a day.

That’s been my normal weekly schedule since.

It’s a labor of love. It has always been for me ever since I fell in love with the game when I was eight years old, while growing up in Minnesota. Then, for my 17th birthday, my parents gave me a book that forever changed my life, Secrets of an NFL Scout, by Tony Razzano. I couldn’t put the book down. That’s what I wanted to be. I wanted to be an NFL Scout.

That road took an unexpected turn

I wrote my first 75-page scouting report the following draft after I got that book. It was the Spring of 1992. I Xeroxed a copy of a Sports Illustrated cover featuring the Heisman Trophy winner that year, Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard, and used that picture as the opening page of my report. When all the other kids were working on their assignments in typing class in high school, I was sitting in the back of the class, typing scouting reports. I ended up sending that 75-page scouting report to then Redskins’ General Manager, Charley Casserly, asking him for a summer internship. He wrote back, encouraging me to apply again after my first year of college, but that didn’t go as planned. I failed out of a small community college after my first year. School never held my interest.

I loved football.

More twists and turns

I found myself working at Allstate Insurance as an insurance agent at 21 years old, and telemarketing for leads when this ad came on the local sports radio station. They said the first 32 callers would be invited to come into the Minnesota Vikings headquarters and represent a team on the air in a mock draft. I had nine open phone lines and immediately began dialing the number. Sure enough, I was the first caller, and I was told I would represent the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars on the air. It was there that I ran into Tony Dungy, who was then the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, and it turned into an informal, unpaid six-month internship. Coach Dungy then left the Vikings and became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I went back to the real world, selling Kirby Vacuum Cleaners door-to-door.

At 24, I found myself working at Bank of America as a mortgage loan officer, and one day, during a boring real estate law meeting, I began daydreaming again, “What am I doing here? I want to be an NFL Scout!” Over the next seven months, that thought turned into a 350-page self-published 1998 NFL Draft Guide, which served as my “resume.” I sent three personalized copies overnight mail to every head coach, director of player personnel, and general manager in the NFL.

That’s when it happened.

I was hired by the New York Jets. I worked as a Pro Personnel Assistant for my first two seasons, and as a Pro Scout for my last two seasons.

Never did I think my time in the NFL would end.

But it did.

Backside of my dream

I never dreamt I would be out of it by the time I was 28.

But I kept putting one foot in front of another while battling through all sorts of adversity, both personally and professionally.

For the first couple of years out, I couldn’t even watch NFL games. That’s how hard it was on me. There have been times over the past 20-something years since I’ve been out, I’ve tried to get as far away from the NFL as possible, but something or someone always brings me back to it.

Did it seem like I was going to have a chance to get back into the NFL along the way?

To one degree or another⎯

2006 with the Cardinals. 2011 with the Eagles. 2017 with the Browns. Then in 2019, with the Redskins (That story told is here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5)

Each time, it felt closer to happening again.

Why aren’t you doing this?

That’s the question my wife Samantha asked me during the 2020 NFL Draft.

We had just moved to Key West, Florida, and we were walking down world-famous Duval Street in the dark, and I was trying to find a way to watch part of the draft under a street light. I wanted to find out what pick they were on and find out who had been picked so far. That’s when I came across a couple of commentators talking about the draft on my phone. We both began listening to what they were saying, and that’s when Samantha turned to me and asked me that question.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

But deep down, it was a question that stuck to my soul.

Why wasn’t I doing this?

Her question kept playing on my mind and playing on my mind. I knew deep down I still loved it. Eventually, it got to the point I began taking steps back toward my dream, and as I did, God began opening doors in ways only He could. I began writing articles for SI Detroit Lions, NFL Draft Diamonds, and SI New York Jets. Then, in August of 2022, I launched firstroundmock.com, my very own NFL Draft site, and did some additional writing for Yardbarker. Along the way, I’ve been on hundreds of podcasts, been mentioned on some big-time shows, and even had the opportunity to be on some big-time shows with some very well-known media personalities. All told, I’ve written 1,750+ published evaluations, and my name and football takes have appeared in many well-known publications.

USA Today even did a feature story about me and my take on Shedeur Sanders right before the 2025 NFL Draft.

Then⎯

Would you believe this…

As I was writing this, I was invited to be a guest on LiveNOW from FOX.

Where will my dream go from here?

I have no idea. I never have.

All I have is this recurring vision…

I’m sitting in this office, and I’m being offered a second chance in the NFL, and I begin crying uncontrollably.

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 is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. Featured in USA Today. For more information about him, visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.