When Pete Carroll landed the Las Vegas Raiders head coaching gig, you knew that he was about to put together a kick-ass staff. And, he's done just that, putting together maybe one of the best coaching staffs we have seen since the Raiders have been in Las Vegas, and maybe before that, too.
And that's ultimately what will help the Raiders improve from their horrid season in 2024. Well, that and just actually having a direction to go in with a competent head coach and general manager in John Spytek, both having a championship pedigree with the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the coaching staff as a whole will play a huge part in the forward progression of this franchise.
Carroll was able to bring back Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator and brought in Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. We know about Graham, who has spent the last few seasons in Las Vegas, helping give the Raiders a top-10 defense the last two years. But, Kelly is a bit of a mystery.
Kelly coached in the NFL before with the Philadelphia Eagles, but many would call that stint a huge fail. However, that was a long time ago. Since then, he's been in college coaching the UCLA Bruins as their head coach and moved to Ohio State last season to be the offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes, who won a National Championship with the country's best offense.
While he hasn't been in the NFL in some time, his time in college could still help him, though. NFL analysts and former players agree.
“I think his time in college is going to bode extremely well for the Las Vegas Raiders," Ryan Clark of ESPN said on NFL Live after the hire was made.
When Kelly was asked about some of the similarities between the two, he explained it perfectly.
"Yeah, I think football is football," Chip Kelly said during his introductory press conference. "And I heard a long time ago, but if you weren't in the room with Amos Alonzo Stagg and Knute Rockne when they invented this game, then you stole the idea from somebody. So, I think the game is cyclical. It has it's ebbs and flows. The offense gets pulled out ahead and starts to score a lot more points and then the defense catches up and they're shutting people down. There are things that will be run Sunday in this Super Bowl that were run at the high school level."
In college Kelly always had decent offenses at UCLA, despite not having the best talent at crucial positions. His one thing was having to focus on the offense, as well as all of the things that come with being a head coach. And, that can be a lot for people. So, he took a job with Ohio State where he could focus on just the offense and help Will Howard develop into a great quarterback.
Some of the things he did in college offensively and schematically will definitely work in the NFL, like using a two-running back system. The Detroit Lions just did something similar. So, there shouldn't be any worries about if it will work. In fact, he will be the best offensive coordinator the Raiders have had in a very long time.
