Invincible in Baltimore, Invisible Outside

The Highly Underrated Kelly Gregg

There’s a certain kind of player who defines what it means to be a Baltimore Raven. He doesn’t sell jerseys. He doesn’t do the talk show circuit. He just shows up, punches the clock, swallows up double teams for three hours, and goes home. For a decade, that player was Kelly Gregg. No Raven of that era was more criminally under-appreciated than the man they called Buddy Lee.

The Underdog from Edmond

Let’s remember how unlikely this all was. Gregg was a sixth-round pick, 173rd overall, out of Oklahoma in 1999. The Bengals cut him. The Eagles signed him, then released him in September of 2000, and the very next day the Ravens scooped him up. He spent that magical 2000 season on the practice squad, earning a ring when the Ravens’ record-setting defense smothered the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, then went to NFL Europe and piled up six sacks for the Rhein Fire. By 2002, with Tony “Goose” Siragusa gone, Gregg was the full-time starting nose tackle — and he never gave the job back.

The “Buddy Lee” nickname was hung on him by Goose the very day Gregg signed with the Ravens in September 2000 — a nod to the squat, round-faced Lee Jeans doll. It stuck because it fit. Short. Wide. Indestructible.

The Tale of the Tape: Buddy Lee vs. Casey “Big Snack” Hampton

Now, here’s where I get a little lathered up. Casey Hampton was a fine player — a great one, even. But let’s put the numbers side by side, straight from Pro Football Reference, NFL.com and ESPN, and you tell me why one of these men went to five Pro Bowls and the other went to exactly ZERO.

Kelly Gregg: 153 career games, 20.5 career sacks, with 551 total tackles per his career register. As a Raven alone, he made 124 starts and racked up 533 combined tackles, 19.5 sacks, 49 tackles for loss, and six fumble recoveries. He had a career-high 83 tackles in 2007 — an absurd number for a zero-technique nose tackle.

Casey Hampton: A first-round pick, 19th overall in 2001, Hampton played 12 seasons with 164 starts in 173 career games, finishing with 403 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries. ESPN’s career page credits him with 209 solo tackles and 9 sacks. Hampton was a five-time Pro Bowler (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009), a two-time Super Bowl champion, and a member of the Steelers’ 75th Anniversary Team and Hall of Honor.

Read that again. Gregg produced roughly 150 more tackles and more than double the sacks — playing the same position, in the same division, against the same offensive lines — and Hampton got five Pro Bowl nods to Gregg’s goose egg. Big Snack got the hardware. Buddy Lee got pats on the back from teammates. Both were great. Only one got told so.

Yes, Hampton has two Lombardi trophies as a starter and Gregg’s ring came from the practice squad. Pittsburgh’s team success mattered to voters. But on a per-snap, roll-up-your-sleeves basis? The stats say the little wrestler from Edmond was every bit Hampton’s equal, and the box scores say he was more productive.

What the Football People Said

Don’t take my word for it. Ray Lewis told Baltimore Magazine that Gregg had played at a Pro Bowl level for years and put it as plainly as it gets: “Without Kelly Gregg, there is no Ray Lewis, or Bart Scott, or Ed Reed.” Baltimore Magazine Players know players.

Rex Ryan, his defensive coordinator — and his position coach back at Oklahoma — called Gregg “the guy who makes it go for us.” ESPN noted that Gregg was the only nose tackle in the league playing a pure zero technique, head-up over the center on every down, absorbing blockers so Lewis had a lane to the football — which is why Ray called him “my partner.” The Baltimore Sun’s profile of Gregg marveled that he never complained, always showed up in a good mood — and might have been the best nose tackle in football.

And then there’s Bart Scott.

I hosted “Hot Sauce” with Bart back in 2007 on 105.7, and of all Bart’s weekly teammate guests, Buddy Lee was my favorite — and, for the record, the only one who ever showed up early. Bart told me then that Gregg was the glue — that the Ravens defense of that era stopped and started with Kelly Gregg. High praise from a linebacker who shared a huddle with Lewis, Reed, Suggs and McAlister. Bart never took Kelly’s sacrifices lightly. Nor should anyone for that matter. But some did!

Kelly Gregg is a name we don’t hear all that often around these parts, but his importance to most of those 2000s Ravens defenses was absolute.

From a wrestling champion to a Super Bowl winner, with an offseason in NFL Europe too, Kelly was the epitome of what you expect in a DT! pic.twitter.com/Lx5xI0yuWK

— Nic Mason (@British_Raven19) July 16, 2026

Life After Baltimore

The end in Baltimore came the way it always does when a player — coldly. Gregg was released on July 28, 2011, a salary cap casualty, never having been voted to a Pro Bowl despite ten years as one of the league’s most effective and underrated nose tackles. Two days later he signed a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, and in 2011 he finished with 39 tackles and a sack — starting duty in all 16 games at age 35. One year in Kansas City, and that was that. Twelve NFL seasons for a guy who was supposedly too short, too round, and too slow.

Buddy Lee Today

So, what’s the big fella been up to? Exactly what you’d hope. He went home to Oklahoma. When we caught up with Kelly during an interview a few years ago (see below), he shared that he has three boys who take up most of his time; he plays “Mr. Mom”; does a little radio; drops the kids at school and heads out to his farm. He was quick to add that he doesn’t miss playing football one bit, enjoying every day with his kids, his farm, and his wife. He became a radio personality in Oklahoma City, contributing to programs on 107.7 The Franchise, and the Ravens’ own “What Happened to That Guy” feature caught up with him as a college sports broadcaster who went back to his country roots — and still reps his Ravens pride.

Casey Hampton got the Pro Bowls, the parades, and the Hall of Fame bust. Kelly Gregg got a farm, three boys, a microphone, and the eternal respect of everyone who ever watched Ravens film with the sound off.

Kelly’s teammates were never muted when asked about the Ravens’ fireplug. Their praise was effusive. What a shame that not many outside of Charm City listened.

Here’s to you, Buddy Lee.

Thanks for the memories.

The post Invincible in Baltimore, Invisible Outside appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/07/23/where-are-they-now/kelly-gregg-aka-buddy-lee/