Tag: Chip Kelly

Tracking Raiders coaching staff hires

The most up-to-date look at the Raiders new coaching staff under head coach Pete Carroll.

The Raiders coaching staff is filling up. There are still a lot of positions that have either not been filled or not reported yet. And, of course, there are some coaches who are still under contract, but who could still be let go should they add someone new at their position.

So, let’s gather them all into a list to see who is in place so far.

Head coach — Pete Carroll

Offense

Offensive Coordinator — Chip Kelly

Offensive line coach — Brennan Carroll

Quarterback coach — Greg Olson

Running backs coach — Deland McCullough

Wide receivers coach — Chris Beatty

Defense

Defensive coordinator — Patrick Graham (retained)

Defensive pass game coordinator — Joe Woods

Defensive line coach — Rob Leonard (retained)

Linebackers coach — John Glenn

Defensive assistant — Beyah Rasool

Special teams

Special teams coordinator — Tom McMahon (retained)

Other news:

Most coaches who we know will not be back, the team has hired their replacement. We know cornerbacks coach Ricky Manning Jr and safeties coach Gerald Alexander will not return, but we don’t yet know who their replacements will be.

Raiders new OC Chip Kelly walked away from head coach job, ‘rekindled’ love for football

The Raiders new OC decision to step away from head coaching turned out to be a great decision. and he couldn’t be happier.

This time a year ago, Chip Kelly was the head coach at UCLA. And after leading the Bruins to an 8-5 record and a win over Boise State in the LA Bowl, the university had planned to have him back. But Kelly had other ideas. And it involved a rare decision to give up his head coaching job to return to being an offensive coordinator.

It’s not unusual for a college head coach to take a coordinator position at the next level. But Kelly was simply moving to another Big Ten team, making for a somewhat unconventional move.

It paid off though. A year later, he helped the Buckeyes win a National Championship and was called back to the NFL by the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Fresh off taking the job with the Raiders, I asked Kelly what went into his decision a year ago to give up his head coaching job to become an OC again.

“Part of it was in our bowl game a year ago against Boise [State],” Kelly replied. “Our quarterback coach had left to be the coach at Oregon State and then for those two-and-a-half weeks before the bowl game, I got a chance to coach the quarterbacks again, and coach a position again and I think my wife remarked ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time’. 

“But I think you really start to think and get the perspective of the essence of why you do what you do and I’ve really enjoyed the one-on-ones with the quarterbacks and being with a specific group. As a head coach you’re in every meeting. You’re in the Oline meeting then you’re in the Dline meeting, but you miss just having a position group. And I thought about it and when an opportunity presented itself like would you consider not being a head coach anymore, to just be a coordinator and just be a position coach, it was appealing.”

Over a couple months time, Kelly had time to consider what he wanted to do as a coach. And ultimately the answer came from someone who he had a football connection from nearly a quarter century ago.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s football career began at New Hampshire under Kelly. And three times since then Day has been on Kelly’s coaching staff. Now 27 years since Day first took the field for Kelly, Day was hiring his former head coach to lead his offense with the Buckeyes. And merger was obviously a great one.

“It just kind of rekindled my love for just coaching football,” Kelly said. “I think sometimes as a head coach those rules turn into like a little bit of a CEO at the college level. With the advent of NIL and the transfer portal I think coaches are getting pulled in a lot of different directions and it’s away from actually coaching football. And I just really enjoy coaching football.”

Coaches and GMs talk about wanting players who love football. Well, it’s a valuable trait in a coach as well. To have a coach who has seen the top of his profession at multiple levels and has decided that the position that the team wants him to be is also where he thrives.

Hiring Chip Kelly as OC means former Seahawks HC Pete Carroll has changed

Hiring Chip Kelly as OC means former Seahawks HC Pete Carroll has changed

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll made a bold staffing move over the weekend by hiring Chip Kelly to be his offensive coordinator. Kelly is going to earn $6 million per season, becoming the highest-paid coordinator in NFL history, per widespread media reports. Carroll, the former Seattle Seahawks head coach, just showed a willingness to adjust his mindset.

Before hiring Kelly, Carroll was linked to hiring his former Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell as his coordinator and play-caller. Many Seahawks fans expected that move to transpire. Instead, Carroll shocked the footballing world by luring Kelly, Ohio State’s National Championship winning OC and QB coach, back to the NFL.

Throughout his successful, long-lasting tenure with the Seahawks, Carroll was often accused of playing old-school football. He was a defensive-minded coach (he’s a former DC and DB coach) who was accused of neglecting the offensive side of the ball. And certainly, Carroll sometimes settled for the status quo, showing loyalty to coaches like Bevell, even when it was clear their time had run its course.

Appointing Kelly, one of the more creative offensive minds in football, over Bevell, proves Carroll is willing to approach things differently in his tenure with the Raiders. The 73-year-old Carroll is willing to evolve. That makes following his upcoming stint with the Raiders particularly exciting for Seahawks fans.

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Chip Kelly’s return to the NFL could lead Commanders to lose Marcus Mariota

Chip Kelly is back in the NFL and could target Marcus Mariota.

The Washington Commanders have a franchise quarterback. Jayden Daniels broke numerous team and NFL records, leading Washington to its best season since 1991, which included 12 wins, two postseason road wins, and an appearance in the NFC championship game.

Outside of Daniels, the Commanders had several other heroes in 2024, including backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. Like Daniels, Mariota was a former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick. But after nine NFL seasons, he signed with Washington to serve as a mentor and backup to Daniels.

The two grew close, and Daniels often praised Mariota for helping him. In the Week 17 game against Atlanta, Mariota saw something in the defense and told Daniels during a timeout. The rookie then threw the game-winning touchdown pass to clinch a playoff berth. 

Mariota appeared in three games, with two lengthy appearances. He was excellent. In a Week 18 win at Dallas, he had a clutch fourth-down run on the game-winning drive. A few plays later, Mariota found Terry McLaurin for the game-winning touchdown.

Mariota, like so many others last offseason, signed a one-year contract with the Commanders. With the way he played when he had the chance, some teams will likely want to sign him to serve as a bridge quarterback.

One of those teams could be the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders just hired Chip Kelly, Mariota’s former college coach, as their new offensive coordinator. Mariota rose to prominence with Kelly at Oregon before the coach left to become the Eagles’ head coach in 2013.

The Raiders will be signing a veteran quarterback. And whoever that quarterback is will have a chance to start. Some have linked Russell Wilson to Las Vegas due to his connection with new head coach Pete Carroll. But Mariota makes more sense because of his history with Mariota.

Mariota, 31, enjoyed his time in Washington and could return as the Commanders chase a Super Bowl next season. He embraced his role as Daniels’s backup and mentor, but he probably wants to play.

It will be interesting to see if Washington general manager Adam Peters prioritizes Mariota or looks for a cheaper option behind Daniels. Mariota’s role and leadership were an underrated part of Washington’s success in 2024.

Pete Carroll hires Chip Kelly to be OC of the Raiders

Pete Carroll hires Chip Kelly to be OC of the Raiders

Former Seattle Seahawks-turned-Raiders head coach Pete Carroll is wasting little time making waves in his return to the NFL. As a noted defensive coach, Carroll obviously needed an offensive coordinator. However, Carroll decided to make a drastically different decision when everyone assumed he might be trying to get the old Seahawks coaching staff back together. Over the weekend it was announced Carroll was hiring Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to lead the Raiders in the same capacity.

The former Pac-10 and NFC West rivals are reuniting in Sin City, as Kelly will make his return to the NFL for the first time since the 2016 season.

It has been a remarkable coaching journey for Chip over the years. Fans in the Pacific Northwest will surely always remember him for turning the Oregon Ducks into a national powerhouse, defined by his revolutionary no-huddle offense which left defenses gassed every Saturday. He made the jump into the NFL to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach from 2013-2015.

After leading the Eagles to the playoffs in his first season, Kelly was let go before his final year in the City of Brotherly Love concluded. From there, Kelly was hired to be the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. In his lone season by the Bay, Kelly’s Niners went 2-14. Ironically, the last game Kelly coached in the NFL was a 25-23 loss to the Seahawks under… Pete Carroll.

Kelly returned to the NFL as the head coach of UCLA where he was at from 2018-2023 before ultimately leaving the Bruins to become the offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Kelly’s offense became an unstoppable force in the first ever expanded college football playoff, as the Buckeyes claimed a National Championship.

Now, he returns to the league, eager to prove (alongside Carroll) he still has plenty to bring to the table at the professional level.

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Dolphins will have interest in Marcus Mariota, says NFL insider

The Dolphins are likely to pursue veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota in free agency, says ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Miami Dolphins’ lackluster backup quarterback situation proved to be a fatal flaw in 2024. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has already reported that the team will have its eye on one veteran as a possible solution.

After saying Monday that the Las Vegas Raiders could be the landing spot for impending free agent Marcus Mariota, Schefter added the Dolphins are also a strong possibility.

“I’ll tell you where else Marcus Mariota is going to be an option: in Miami with Tua [Tagovailoa] — his good friend Tua,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “He’ll be an option there. So there could be a little bit of interest in Marcus Mariota between the Miami Dolphins and Chip Kelly and the Las Vegas Raiders. … He’ll have some interesting choices this offseason.”

Mariota, 31, spent the 2024 season with the Washington Commanders — his fourth team in as many seasons. The former No. 2 overall pick already had a two-year stint with the Raiders earlier in his career, but speculation of a potential return is linked to the addition of Chip Kelly, who coached Mariota for two years at Oregon, as the offensive coordinator in Las Vegas.

In 2024, Mariota took snaps in three games with the Commanders and finished the year with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Earlier this year, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told reporters that the team made an effort to sign a free agent passer in 2024.

“We were in on a number of topflight backup quarterbacks in the league,” Grier said. “We were runner-ups for a couple of them that we wanted to get here, and for some financial restraints and compensatory pick stuff, we just couldn’t go to those, to the prices. But all of those guys wanted to come here. It’s a position we do not take lightly.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if Mariota was one of the quarterbacks who talked with the Dolphins before opting to play elsewhere. Between the one-year, $6 million deal he signed and the opportunity to compete with a rookie for snaps, the Commanders offered opportunity and pay to Mariota that the Dolphins would’ve had a hard time matching.

While the urgency to address the quarterback depth has been raised for the Dolphins after backups went 2-4 in Tagovailoa’s absence last season, many of the same challenges could arise in 2025. The Raiders have significantly more salary cap space and no entrenched starter in place.

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Raiders bring on Pete Carroll’s son at offensive line coach

After three seasons as a college OC, Brennan Carroll joins the Raiders as offensive line coach and running game coordinator.

A day after the Raiders landed Chip Kelly as their new offensive coordinator, Kelly already has a member of his staff in place and he was a rival OC in the BigTen last season. It’s Pete Carroll’s son Brennan Carroll who will be the team’s new offensive line coach and running game coordinator.

Brennan was the offensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies football team last season, coach down the road from where his dad coaches for 14 years.

Pete Carroll has had Brennan on his staff several times over the past 23 years. First as a graduate assistant at USC, the tight ends coach for the Trojans, then an offensive assistant with the Seahawks and later assistant OL coach and run game coordinator.

The past four seasons he spent as the OC at Arizona (2021-23) and Washington.

Raiders make OC Chip Kelly NFL’s highest paid coordinator

The Raiders aren’t messing around in making sure they get the coaching staff they want this season.

The Raiders aren’t messing around this offseason. They are aggressively going after what they want. Though they may not have reeled in the prize head coach candidate of the offseason, with Ben Johnson heading to Chicago, they immediately shifted to landing former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.

With Carroll’s legacy established, the Raiders made sure they got their choices at the coordinator positions. First retaining DC Patrick Graham and then quickly nabbing Chip Kelly weeks after he guided a juggernaut Ohio State offense to a National Championship.

They made sure they got their guys by offering them sizable contracts, including making Chip Kelly the highest paid OC in the league.

Kelly was likely in demand after what he accomplished in his one season in Columbus. Especially when you consider his history as an offensive guru, namely back when he was the offensive coordinator and later the head coach at Oregon.

For the Raiders part, they needed to rebound from their disastrous attempts last offseason where it appeared they were going to be hiring Kliff Kingsbury only to have him back out due to the Raiders being only willing to commit to a two-year contract. Kingsbury instead went to Washington and helped the Commanders in their playoff run.

High-profile coach returns to NFL with Broncos’ division rival

The Broncos will face a Chip Kelly-coached offense when they play against the Raiders in 2025.

Chip Kelly is returning to the NFL.

The offensive guru has joined the Las Vegas Raiders as their new offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports (via Raiders Wire). Kelly is set to earn an average of $6 million per year in Las Vegas, according to The MMQB’s Albert Breer, making him the highest-paid coordinator in the NFL.

Kelly, 61, has an extensive background in college football. He left Oregon to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach in 2013. Kelly was fired after going 26-21, then he landed with the San Francisco 49ers. After going 2-14 in San Francisco, Kelly was fired again and returned to the NCAA level.

Kelly served as UCLA’s head coach from 2018-2023, going 35-34. He then served as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2024, helping the Buckeyes win a College Football Playoff National Championship.

The Denver Broncos faced the Eagles once when Kelly was their head coach, with the Broncos winning that game 52-20 in 2013. He will now coach a Raiders offense that is set to face Denver twice each season.

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Texans miss out on Ohio State OC Chip Kelly to Raiders

The Houston Texans might have been a fan-favorite among Houston Texans’ fans, but he’s instead headed out to Sin City.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is leaving Columbus after one season.

He’s just not headed to the Houston Texans.

Kelly, who guided the Buckeyes to their first national title victory since 2014 and rumored candidate for Houston’s offensive coordinator position, is expected to be named the Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll.

Kelly, who previously coached Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans during his time in Philadelphia, previously interviewed for the Raiders offensive coordinator position last year under Antonio Pierce, though the job ultimately went to Luke Gesty.

After the hiring didn’t go through, Kelly, 61, reunited with former protege Ryan Day as Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator following his resignation at UCLA.

Kelly seven seasons in college football between UCLA and Ohio State. Before being hired by the Eagles in 2013, he served as Oregon’s head coach for four seasons, guiding the Ducks to a national title appearance in 2010 against Auburn.

Kelly last coached in the NFL in 2016, when he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for one season. Before that, he spent three seasons with the Eagles, guiding them to a playoff appearance in 2013.

In Las Vegas, Kelly will have a chance to work with first-team All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Jakobi Meyers, who just recorded his first career 1,000-yard season with the Raiders.

The Raiders also own the No. 6 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft in April. The also added an extra third-round draft pick from the Davante Adams trade to the New York Jets and more than $108 million in cap space.

While Kelly’s name was linked to the position in a CBS Sports report last week, it’s unclear if he offically interviewed for the postion or any other opening besides Las Vegas.

Internal candidates include quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson and senior offensive assistant Bill Lazor.

External candidates include Syracuse offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, and Los Angeles Rams tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Nick Caley, Minnesota Vikings assistant offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and Washington Commanders passing-game coordinator Brian Johnson.

The Texans are expected to make a hire sometime next week before the Super Bowl.