Christopher Kelsay (born October 31, 1979) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who played his entire career as a

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 ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

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 competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

. Kelsay was selected 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 chosen in the draft.

Early life

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 ha ...

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 .

College career

Then he went on to play for the

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 collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. 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 19 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 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

, all with the

NFL career statistics

Personal life

His brother,

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

, 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