Chip Kelly's return to the NFL has come with little fanfare. The former Eagles and 49ers head coach spent the past seven seasons at the college level, including 2024 as offensive coordinator at Ohio State.
New Raiders HC Pete Carroll hired Kelly to run his offense in Las Vegas in 2025.
When Kelly entered the NFL in 2013 after a successful string at Oregon, his up-tempo offense took the league by storm in Year 1. But defenses quickly caught up to its simplistic style. In 2013, Philly was second in the NFL in yards and fourth in points. By 2015, his final year in Philly, those rankings had fallen to 12th and 13th. In one year in San Francisco in 2016, his offense was 31st in yards and 27th in points.
Given how things went in the NFL and his mostly nondescript tenure at UCLA before the move to CFP champion OSU, it shouldn't be a shock that little more than raised eyebrows have welcomed Kelly's return to the pros. As offseason workouts ramp up, how he'll run his offense remains an intriguing question.
Kelly unsuccessfully recruited new Raiders quarterback Geno Smith while at Oregon. Last year, the OC also coached Smith's cousin, receiver Jeremiah Smith, at Ohio State.
"We've always had a rapport with one another, which has made the transition smooth," Geno Smith told The Athletic's Ted Nguyen of Kelly. "And so, learning this offense, I've been in three different systems in three years. And so I've been able to adjust, and that's something that I'm good at. I can adjust. And so, just an adjustment period, but the offense is really good. I'm looking forward to it. Won't give too many details, but we're looking to be explosive and efficient."
During his previous run calling plays in the NFL, Kelly slowed his pace from its initial break-neck speed. How he mixes tempo and freedom for the quarterback will be notable during training camp later this summer.
One of Smith's strengths is diagnosing defenses at the line of scrimmage, getting the offense into the best possible play. That's not how Kelly's system first ran, but the 34-year-old QB sounded like he should have more control of this version of the offense.
"Every single coordinator I've played under, they understand how much film I study," Smith said. "They understand how well I can see the defense pre- and post-snap. And so they give me a lot of the abilities to go out there and make those things happen. But again, it's all about what can our guys do as a group? It's never about what I can do myself. I believe in myself, but it's a collective effort. And so we've got to make sure that all the guys are always on the same page. … We're working on that. But I know that Chip knows that I can see the game."
There is a lot of unknown in Vegas this offseason. The Raiders brought in a 73-year-old, Super Bowl-winning coach, a mid-30s quarterback, and a play-caller who hasn't been in the league in eight years. Vegas is gambling on all that experience to finally turn things around for Mark Davis' club, which hasn't won a playoff game since 2002.
