Kenny Bell was a UTH reader request to be covered prior to the NFL Combine. Bell would not have been on the radar to be covered until March or April simply because his projection model profile is woeful. Here is the need-to-know early information on the Nebraska wide receiver:
Kenny Bell is old (23.5 years old for Week 1) and projected to be on the light side (sub-190 pounds is certainly possible). Those two factors place a ton of pressure on Bell to crush the combine and have rock-solid college production already under his belt.
At less than 190 pounds, if that is confirmed, Kenny Bell needs to run a sub-4.40 40 time, and supplement that with his peripheral drill times and measurements, to even have an average athleticism score in the model. As it stands now, Bell has an atrocious -66% for athleticism, one of the worst marks among 2015 wide receivers.
Kenny Bell showed promise in his first two seasons at Nebraska, logging slightly above-average weighted market share numbers in his 19 and 20-year-old seasons. Then, Bell’s progress hit the skids with his two worst seasons coming at 21 and 22 years old. That is a bad sign for his fantasy outlook with back-to-back underwhelming seasons to close his college career. His 15.0 career yards-per-catch is passable. Overall, Bell’s finished production score at -31% adds to storyline that being being an athletic marvel is Bell’s only hope.
Here are Bell’s comparable players based on available information prior to the NFL combine:
- T.J. Jones
- Donte Foster
- David Reed
- Brian Hartline
- Bernard Berrian
- Maurice Mann
- John Standeford
- Brandon Lloyd
While a few names stick out as fantasy relevant, the overall outlook is not kind for Kenny Bell. His overall score is less than Brian Hartline and Brandon Lloyd and all the names on the list were better measureable athletes. Bernard Berrian at 78 overall was the highest drafted of the bunch with the rest being day three selections. At this point, place Bell with the David Reed and Bernard Berrian types on the list, if he boosts his athleticism score during the pre-draft process.
Finally, check out the Matt Waldman RSP Film Room (an excellent series on more than 20 players currently) featuring Kenny Bell:
