ClutchPoints
It’s been nearly a decade since Chip Kelly coached in the NFL, but as of Sunday afternoon, that’s all changing. The Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator has parlayed his success with the reigning National Champions into a return to the National Football League, where he’ll be joining forces with Pete Carroll in Las Vegas to become the Raiders new offensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Pete Thamel.
Kelly last coached in the NFL in 2016, where after one horrendous season as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the team decided to move on from the man who was once considered one of the preeminent offensive minds in all of football. This came on the heels of a three year tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles in which Kelly went 26-21 and made one postseason appearance, but was fired with one week remaining in the 2015 season.
After that failed stint in the NFL, Kelly returned to college, and returned to the Pac-12, where he had established himself and the Oregon Ducks as a powerhouse between 2009 and 2012. But a six season run with the UCLA Bruins ended in 2023 with the team only one game over .500 in Kelly’s time there. Clearly, a run to the National Championship — Ohio State’s first in a decade — played a big role in renewed interest in the 61-year-old coach.
Despite Kelly’s limited success in the NFL, this move must feel like a breath of fresh air for Raiders fans who entered last season with Luke Getsy as the offensive coordinator despite an abysmal tenure with the Chicago Bears. No Bears fan would’ve vouched for Getsy to ever be a play-caller in the NFL again, and unsurprisingly, he lasted only nine games in Las Vegas.
Sure, Carroll and Kelly are a combined 134 years old, but there is plenty more optimism in Las Vegas — at least on the coaching staff side of things — than there has been in quite some time. There are plenty of pieces left to fall into place, specifically at quarterback, though it feels like there’s a world where Vegas can emerge from the 2025 NFL Draft with either Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward.
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