Brian Patrick Kelly (born January 14, 1976) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the University of Southern California. Kelly earned a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers in

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) cham ...

. He also played for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

High school career

Kelly is a high school graduate from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. Overland won the 1993 6A state championship in his senior year.

College career

Kelly graduated from the University of Southern California in 1997.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kelly was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2nd round of the

. In 2002, he helped the Bucs win the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

, during that same season he had 8

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

, which tied for the league lead along with Rod Woodson. On February 15, 2008, he exercised a buyout option in his contract and became a free agent.

Detroit Lions

On March 8, 2008, he signed a three-year deal with the

. He appeared in 11 games (all starts) for the Lions in 2008, recording 26 tackles and a pass defensed. The team released him on December 9 after signing cornerback Dexter Wynn.

NFL statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Brian 1976 births Living people American football cornerbacks Detroit Lions players Players of American football from Nevada Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley Tampa Bay Buccaneers players USC Trojans football players