Last season when the Raiders fired head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler, it was Antonio Pierce and Champ Kelly who were given the titles of interim head coach and GM respectively.
Come the end of the season, Raiders fans were excited about the new energy coming from the team, prompting many to hope for the interim tag to be removed from both Pierce and Kelly to make their titles official.
Mark Davis had four choices. Either keep Pierce as head coach and bring in a new GM, keep Kelly as GM and bring in a new head coach, hire a new head coach and GM, or keep both Pierce and Kelly.
Davis liked both Kelly and Pierce, but keeping both in their new roles would mean the Raiders would have a rookie head coach and GM. Something that was a risky proposition. So, Davis went with the rookie head coach and brought in long time former Chargers GM Tom Telesco.
Hiring a new head coach would likely have meant Pierce would leave the staff. But hiring a new GM would mean Kelly stepped back into his previous role as Assistant GM. At least until he was hired away by another team.
That is, of course, if Kelly was amenable to it.
“I did not know Tom extremely well, said Kelly of Telesco.
“When we first got together, he laid out expectations for me and I was transparent with him about how I viewed the team and some of the needs and some of the [things] that we needed to do to make this team better. I was able to check my ego and put this team first.
“It’s not about me. It’s really about Raider Nation, the alumni, to try to put our best product forward so that we can win football games for this city and Raider Nation. Tom is easy to talk to and ultimately he wants what’s best for me and I want what’s best for him and this football team. And it’s my job to support him and all we do as we move forward. And hopefully we will continue to grow trust as we work together and win some football games together.”
That is a great attitude to have in an Assistant GM who, for a couple months, was entrusted with running the team. And Kelly likely knows that his name is out there in a positive way now, which means he is on the radar for GM jobs across the NFL as they open up.
Kelly has risen over the past 16 years in the NFL ranks from a college scout with the Broncos in 2007, to Director of Pro Personnel in Denver from 2010-14, to his current position which he now enters his third season with the Raiders.