Christopher Kelsay (born October 31, 1979) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

who played for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for his entire professional career. He was drafted by the Bills in the second round (48th overall) of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

and was the sixth defensive end selected in the draft. He played collegiately at

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

Early years

He attended Auburn High School in

Auburn, Nebraska Auburn is a city in Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States, and its county seat. The population was 3,470 at the 2020 census. History Auburn is an incorporation of two towns. Calvert and Sheridan combined to form Auburn in 1882, in part to hav ...

He was an all-state defensive lineman as a senior after recording 142 tackles (69 solos), 14 sacks, 3 fumbles forced, and two fumble recoveries. In 1996, he was an all-state linebacker, leading Auburn to the state semifinals. He also played tight end on offense. In basketball, he was a two-time All-Class C-1 basketball selection, averaging 16 points and 8.4 rebounds a game, in helping Auburn to a 17–3 record in 1997–98. In track, he finished fifth in the Class B shot put and had a personal-best throw of 56 feet, inches.

College career

Then he went on to play for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

for college football. He was inducted into the NCAA scholar-athlete Hall of Fame in 2002. In 43 games at Nebraska, recorded 135 tackles (61 solos) with 13 sacks, 33 stops for losses, 43 quarterback pressures, 9 pass deflections and 2 forced fumbles He earned Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-District VII honors in each of his last three seasons and in 2002 was a National Football Foundation/College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete ($18,000 postgraduate scholarship recipient) As a senior started the first six and final three games at right defensive end and recorded 38 tackles (17 solos) with seven sacks, 13 stops for losses and 18 QB pressures and was Second-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. As a junior, he was a Second-team All-America selection by ''Football News'' as well as a Second-team Consensus All-Big 12 Conference pick after starting every game at right defensive end and recording a career-high 52 tackles (27 solos) with five sacks and 17 stops for losses. He graduated in December 2002 with a 3.6 GPA and a degree in finance.

Professional career

Selected in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft (48th overall) by the

and was the sixth defensive end selected in the draft. As a rookie Kelsay played in 16 games and made 18 tackles, In 2004, he played 16 games and made nine starts and recorded 40 tackles and 4.5 sacks along with 14 QB pressures. In 2005, he started all 16 games and made 41 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Kelsay produced a career season in 2006 where saw career highs in tackles with 88 and sacks posting 5.5. He was about to enter the free agent market in 2007 but was re-signed before free agency started to a 4-year, $23 Million deal. He has played in every game since 2003. In 2007, he was voted as a defensive captain and started the first 11 games of the season and missed the rest due to injuries. Kelsay announced his retirement on February 27, 2013, after 10 seasons in the NFL, all with the

Personal life

His brother,

Chad Kelsay Chad T. Kelsay (born April 9, 1977) is a former American football linebacker who played one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Steelers in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He ...

, also played in the NFL. Kelsay was married on March 13, 2004; his wife's name is Natalie and they had a daughter, Harper, on February 9, 2006. Kelsay is the son of Steve and Jackie Kelsay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelsay, Chris 1979 births Living people American football defensive ends Nebraska Cornhuskers football players People from Auburn, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska Buffalo Bills players Ed Block Courage Award recipients