For the second time in his career, Chip Kelly decided to leave a cushy college job in favor of an NFL job when he was hired to be the offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders. However, this time it ended the same as the first, as Kelly was fired.
While there’s a good chance he’s done at the NFL level, there’s still a lot of respect for the coach in the college ranks. After getting fired by the Raiders, Kelly started to get linked to a number of college jobs, and he has finally landed one.
Northwestern announced that Kelly has joined the program as their next offensive coordinator under head coach David Braun. The Wildcats had some good seasons during the Pat Fitzgerald era, but the Braun era has seen one winning record in three seasons.
Though Kelly failed with the Raiders, he won a National Championship calling plays for the Ohio State Buckeyes less than a year ago. He’s clearly a better fit in college and is a really good get for Northwestern. It remains to be seen if he can have success without the resources the Ohio State afforded him, but he’s a logical coach for a struggling program to take a chance on.
Kelly Wasn’t Able to Run His Offense With Raiders
Oftentimes, when a coach is unceremoniously fired from his job, leaks start coming out to paint that coach in a better light. Luckily for Kelly, the Raiders haven’t looked any better since he was fired, so it’s not like he was the problem.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Kelly wasn’t actually able to run the style offense he wanted to in Las Vegas.
“But based on the views of those who studied the offense and based on those who game-planned against it this season, they don’t believe Kelly was running his own offense at all. It was unlike anything Kelly previously had run,” Rapoport reported back in November after Kelly was fired. “In fact, defensive coordinators likened the Raiders offense this season more to Shane Waldron’s offense with the Seahawks in 2023, Carroll’s last year with Seattle. Kelly’s trademark creative runs out of shotgun had been dramatically limited. Instead, the blend of Seattle and Las Vegas schemes tilted far more toward the under-center zone scheme Carroll favors.
“One previous opponent even had their scout team prepare cards based on Seattle plays of the past under Carroll, sources say.”
Will Kelly Ever Return to NFL?
Even if Kelly was forced to call an offense that he didn’t believe in, there’s no excuse for how poorly the Raiders’ offense was run. He knew what offense he was going to have to run, and he did a poor job of running it.
Kelly is 62 now, so it’s hard to see a future in which he returns to the NFL. He’s been fired from all three NFL jobs he’s had, and didn’t last more than two seasons at any of them. He’s a better fit in college. The more interesting question is whether or not he’ll be a head coach again.
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