The NFL does not consider Jim Kelly’s first season with the Buffalo Bills to be a “rookie” season. Since Kelly had played two years in the USFL for the Houston Gamblers, winning the spring football league’s rookie of the year and most valuable player awards in 1984, he was not considered a rookie upon entering the NFL in 1986.
“If I’m not a rookie because of my stats, then shouldn’t they count in my record?” Kelly said upon learning that he would not be eligible for the 1986 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, which eventually went to New Orleans Saints running back Rueben Mayes.