re: Alabama Players in the NFL and Pro Football Discussion: Off Season or until deleted

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Four games into his eighth NFL season, Indianapolis Colts center and former Alabama standout Ryan Kelly has secured his biggest victory — and it came far away from the field.

On Monday, Kelly and his wife Emma revealed on social media that their twin infant sons, Ford Patrick and Duke Thomas Kelly, have arrived home after a three-month stay in a neonatal intensive care unit at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville.

The two boys were born on June 27 after Emma, at 27 weeks pregnant, went into preterm labor. Ford, at 2 pounds and 2 ounces, was born first, followed by Duke, at 2 pounds, two hours later. Both were immediately admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit.

In an Instagram post, Ryan Kelly wrote that “a weekend trip turned into 3 months of ups and downs.”

“Every day that went by they grew stronger and more resilient to the obstacles in front of them,” Kelly wrote. “They’ve been fighters from the very beginning and our daughter watched over them everyday from above.”

For Kelly and his wife, the joy of welcoming children into the word comes with extra meaning.

In December 2021, Emma Kelly went into the hospital after experiencing complications 19 weeks into her pregnancy. There, she was informed that the heart of her daughter, Mary Kate, had stopped.

"It's the most excruciating pain and the feeling of isolation and loneliness you feel walking out of there without your baby," Emma told the Indianapolis Star last year. "You feel like you're the only two people on earth this has happened to. I labored. I did everything and I don't get my baby. It's all so cruel."

Both Ryan and Emma Kelly have been open about their traumatic experience in interviews and on social media.

“Nothing made me happier than being your Dad,” Ryan Kelly wrote to Mary Kate on Twitter last year. “You gave your Mom and I that gift. You were simply a miracle and always will be. I’m sorry you never got to open those sweet eyes and see us or take your first steps but you have angel wings now. You left this world too soon but we know God had a bigger purpose for you. Your mom and I find comfort knowing you’re being loved on by your great grandparents.

“Thank you for watching over us and your future siblings. I’ll forever wonder who you’d be today. Until we meet again my sweet girl, I love you.”

With his sons able to go home, Kelly thanked the doctors and nurses at the Nashville hospital and Colts owner Jim Irsay, who provided a private jet that brought the family home to Indianapolis.

Kelly, an Ohio native who played at Alabama from 2011-15, also took a moment to express his appreciation for his wife.

“The love I see between her and her boys is what I always dreamed it would be,” Kelly wrote. “Life looks a lot different than it did just a year ago and we have a lot to be thankful for. Thankful we never gave up.”

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Mac is done. Last season mentally broke him

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Thing is...Mac isn't going anywhere that will have a starting spot waiting for him. You get a window to sink or swim in the NFL. As a first round pick he'll get more shots than otherwise, but he'll have to win a starting job wherever he goes. I think he can be a good NFL QB, but he's not a Mahomes, he needs pieces around him... when he has them then he could be elite distributing the ball like he did at Bama. Most QBs... even the ones signing daily record contracts...need talent around them to succeed. They aren't "elevating" those around them... only the truly great ones like Brady or Rodgers have done that. Mahomes in the next generation. That's it. Guys like Burrow or Jalen Hurts... their teams built around them to elevate their QBs because they saw they had good QBs. Mac has had none of that done for him. The downside for Mac is that highly touted QBs enter the league in every draft and there's only so many starting spots. The '24 draft is loaded with QBs. His best shot would be getting traded to the Raiders to work with McDaniels again...maybe they trade Jimmy G to New England and get Mac and a draft pick in return. They draft a rookie QB to compete with Mac and Mac possibly gets another season starting as a bridge QB where he gets an opportunity to prove himself away from the New England flustercuck.

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