New Raiders OC Kelly Could Play an Underrated Role

The Las Vegas Raiders need all the help they can get. New offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could help them in a way many may not have expected.

Ohio State Buckeyes co-offensive coordinator Chip Kelly speaks during Media Day for the College Football Playoff against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on Jan. 18, 2025. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders face an offseason filled with lots of change and even more questions surrounding how to deal with those changes. Specifically, the Raiders are set to have 17 players hit free agency this offseason, many of whom are some of their best players.

Although the Raiders finished this past season with a 4-13 record, some of those 17 players set to hit free agency are also some of the best players in the National Football League at their respective positions.

This means the Raiders, who already had holes on their roster, could soon have even more holes to fill.

However, one NFL insider believes the Raiders new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could help the Raiders fill some of those voids with intimate knowledge he gained about many of the players entering the NFL Draft this season, from his time coaching with Ohio State.

"A generation ago, Pete Carroll used his institutional knowledge from coaching nine years at USC to help GM John Schneider build a loaded roster in Seattle," Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said. "A generation before that, Jimmy Johnson did the same, coming from Miami and constructing the powerhouse 1990s Dallas Cowboys."

Breer thinks that while the Raiders will greatly benefit from Kelly's play calling, his presence will also help them replenish a roster desperately in need of talent at multiple positions.

“So, who could have that sort of advantage in this year’s draft? New Raiders OC Chip Kelly spent last year at Ohio State, and the six before that at UCLA, giving him intimate knowledge of players through the Midwest and West Coast, starting with the guys he coached. The national champion Buckeyes have more players invited to the [NFL Combine] (15) than anyone else, so the new Carroll–John Spytek regime in Las Vegas should be well-positioned both with that group, UCLA players, and those who played against Ohio State and UCLA over the last two or three years," Breer said.

“To me, these are the sorts of things that can help make and break draft classes, in the knowledge these coaches have on who the players are, and not just who to go all-in on, but also who to avoid.”

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