The search for coordinators in Sin City has now come to an end. Pete Carroll headed into his tenure as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders needing to find a coordinator at all three phases of the game for his staff, and in a little over one week’s time, that task has officially been accomplished.
The first hire was special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, who agreed to return to Sin City on Wednesday. Later that same day, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham also let it be known that he intended to make his way back to Las Vegas in the same role he’s held since 2022.
Now, after a four-day gap in between, the Raiders have found their offensive coordinator: Chip Kelly.
Kelly is fresh off of a run with the Ohio State Buckeyes where he helped lead his team to their first National Championship in a full decade. With 35.5 points scored on a weekly basis, only 15 NCAA schools across the nation averaged more points than Kelly’s offense.
Such offensive success is nothing new for the 61-year-old coach.
In the National Football League, specifically, Kelly is no stranger to fielding offensive juggernauts. He hasn’t needed much to do so, either.
During the ’13 season, which marked Kelly’s first year as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Philly finished the year scoring the second-most points in addition to gaining the fourth-most yardage. Nick Foles was the team’s quarterback, who tied for an NFL-record seven passing touchdowns against the Silver and Black in Week 9.
The following year, in 2014, the Eagles scored the third-most points while earning the fifth-most yards. This time, Mark Sanchez split time under center with Nick Foles.
New signal caller, same successful result for Chip Kelly’s offense.
A potential successor for Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders
You’d have to fast-forward to 2016 to find the only year where Kelly didn’t have much offensive success at the NFL-level. As head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the Raiders new offensive coordinator led his team to the 31st-most yards and the 27th-largest point-total.
Given the state of San Francisco’s offense at the time, however, it’s hard to throw too many stones Kelly’s way.
At quarterback was a mix of Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert who combined for 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Carlos Hyde led the running back room and Jeremy Kerley led the wideout unit.
Joining Kerley in the wide receiver room was Vance McDonald and Quinton Patten, along with a near-finished Torrey Smith. The tight end position was locked down by Garrett Celek – not long-time Eagle Brett – whil the team’s offensive line unit finished the season ranked 28th-best via Pro Football Focus.
All that in mind, it isn’t hard to understand why Kelly’s offense didn’t go as planned with the 49ers.
With the Raiders, Kelly gets a bona fide stud in Brock Bowers who’s able to do a number of things at an elite level. He also gets a sure-handed Jakobi Meyers who, as per The 33rd Team, stands as the only player since the year 2,000 to amass 100-plus targets without recording any amount of drops.
The team’s offensive line has great talent at each position, and with an early pick in the Day-2 rounds of 2025 NFL Draft, adding one of the two running backs from Kelly’s Ohio State championship team feels likely.
If things go well, Kelly, as opposed to Patrick Graham, may be who Carroll chooses to be his successor. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, however.
