What Dolphins Coaches Said About Champ Kelly

It's now been almost a week since Champ Kelly was named Miami Dolphins interim GM, but offensive coordinator Frank Smith already had worked with him.

The two were together with the Chicago Bears from 2015-17 when Smith was the tight ends and Kelly went from director of pro scouting in 2015-16 to assistant director of player personnel in 2017.

"High energy, great communicator, proactive," is how Smith described Kelly. "Just a very great teammate, wants to be a part of solving problems. So I think that respect for him and I really enjoyed my time working before and opportunity."

Smith was asked whether he thought at the time that Kelly could be general manager material.

"Yeah, he's always kind of displayed an ability to communicate very well," Smith said. "A lot of the times it's just the communication, especially in season, getting workouts and getting to see different guys that are available, options of players that are out there. So, yeah, I've always thought very
highly of him."

Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver also was asked about his experience with Kelly, and he pointed out the two had never worked together before Kelly joined the Dolphins as a senior personnel executive in March.

"I've known Champ for a few years now, kind of from afar, just in passing, and he's an extremely knowledgeable, very personable guy who he takes this craft and his job very seriously," Kelly said. "And the other thing I love about him is he's been great as a communicator. You know exactly what you're gonna get every day. Takes the gray out."

PRINCE DISCUSSES KNEELAND PASSING

Along with the three main coordinators — Smith, Weaver and special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman — two assistant coaches typically conduct media sessions every Thursday, and wide receivers coach Robert Prince was one of those who spoke on this day.

Before he began taking questions, he choked up while offering his condolences to the family of Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who died Thursday morning at the age of 24.

Prince was wide receivers coach in Dallas last season when Kneeland was a rookie second-round pick out of Western Michigan, which provided somewhat of another connection considering Price's time as an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions.

"Just want to give my condolences to Marshawn and his family," Prince began. Good kid. I have no idea what happened, but just my condolences to those guys."

Prince explained he had a lot of conversations with Kneeland last year while Kneeland was recovering from an injury.

"Yeah, I don't know if you guys know, I like to be in the weight room," Prince said. "You know, you don't get a body like this naturally. So I'm in the weight room a lot, and we spent a lot of time when he was injured and working in the weight room. We'd shoot the breeze. He was a Western Michigan kid and I coached with the Lions for a while. So we had some Michigan-type stories. But good kid. Sorry to hear that about him."