PODCAST: 10 Issues Facing the Raiders Training Camp No. 8

The Las Vegas Raiders will finally end a long offseason when their veterans report for the 2025 NFL Training Camp tomorrow.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode continues a ten-part series on the issues facing the 2025 Silver and Black, and we take a long look at the need for DC Patrick Graham’s defense to develop harmony at the linebacker position right away.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

The addition of Chip Kelly at OC opens a world of new opportunities for the Raider Nation’s 2025 offense.

Kelly is universally respected around the game of football for his prowess in calling and developing plays.

He spoke recently after practice about the Raider Nation and his thoughts on the state of the franchise.

You can read a partial transcript of all he said below.

Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly

Q: When you say, coach to your strengths, what does that mean with Geno Smith? What is he showing you? Coach Kelly: "The beauty of Geno is that Geno has been in multiple systems now, and there's a lot of things Geno can do. I don't think you can just pigeon hole him. I think he runs better than people really give him credit for. You look at the two-minute drive against the 49ers at the end of the game, and he runs it in for the winner. I think he can beat you with his feet. He can keep plays alive with his feet. He's extremely accurate. He gets the ball out of his hand quickly. He can be a movement guy, but he can also be a drop back guy, and Pete [Carroll] and Greg Olson, our quarterback coach, had a great understanding, because they've coached him for such a long time. And what we saw in terms of Pete's evaluation, Oli's [Greg Olson] evaluation of him is what I've seen here. I think whatever we fit into schematically offensively, I think Geno can handle all that."

Las Vegas Raiders QB Geno Smith | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Q: You recruited Geno Smith when he was coming out of high school, and obviously you coached his cousin las year. What's your relationship like outside of football? Coach Kelly: "It's great, just because Geno is a football guy, like Geno loves ball. You'll get a phone call after phase two - we'll talk on a Tuesday night about what transpired that day, and we're going against ourselves, like we hadn't gone against the defense yet, but have a conversation about this and then, 'How do you see this?' And really lean on him a little bit, because of his wealth of experience, and he's been through different coordinators in this league, and some really good ones. So like, 'Hey, how did Shane [Wadron] do this when you were with him?' Or, 'How did [Ryan] Grubb do this when you were with him?' And kind of pick his brain that way and then put together what's the best thing for us going forward. But he's great. Geno is literally like a second coach. When you're in that room with him and Greg Olson, there's a lot of ideas going around, and then it's just a matter of corralling it, because sometimes you can have too many ideas, like let's try to do a million things, and then you don't get good at one thing. But his football acumen is really off the charts, and it's impressive to be around him."

Q: Michael Mayer was a guy that was drafted here with high accolades. You were in the college game when he was doing his thing in college. It feels like there's a lot left on the bone there with Michael Mayer. But Brock Bowers comes in and sort of takes a little luster away. How do you kind of figure out a way to get the most out of Michael Mayer? Coach Kelly: "I think Mike has been outstanding since I've been here. And for all of us, we came in kind of tabula rasa, we're a blank slate. I mean we watch film of all the players just to kind of get an understanding of what they did, but didn't make any decisions on anything until you see him here. And Mike's been fantastic since day one of the offseason program when we started early in April there, and in what he did just in the weight room, what he's done in the meeting room, and then what we did in phase two, and then what he's continued to do here. So, really, really excited about him. And there's never a position anywhere where a coach will say, 'You know what, we have too many good players.' Like that's never the case, especially in this league, because everybody's really talented that you're going to go against. So the more tight ends we can get, the more wide outs we can get, the more running backs we can get, the more quarterbacks you can get, then we'll continue to take them. But I think Mike's been outstanding, and I checked, you can play with two tight ends in a game at the same time, and sometimes you can play with three tight ends they told me. So, maybe we can get to that if we have to. Obviously you're going to try to attack each team you're playing each week differently, depending on how they defend you. But to be able to have that ability and have a couple quality guys here, because Ian Thomas has been outstanding, and he's a guy that's played a lot of snaps in this league, too."

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