The Raiders have the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL and based on the first month of the season, it feels like they might have overpaid a little for Chip Kelly.
It’s still early in Kelly’s tenure with the Raiders, but a lot of the early changes Kelly has brought to the offense haven’t been particularly stellar.
From the strange situation around Jackson Powers-Johnson in training camp and beyond, to the changes made to Ashton Jeanty’s stance (which he abandoned in week 4), Kelly hasn’t looked like a $6 million coordinator in his first month on the Las Vegas sideline.
Kelly’s scheme has taken criticism from a few former players in recent weeks and prior to Sunday’s game, The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen made an interesting observation on the Raiders’ third down offense.
“The dropback menu for third-and-long is very small. They are running the same concepts repeatedly in those situations, and the defense has been ready,” Nguyen wrote at The Athletic last week. “Maybe they’ll add to it as the season goes, but they are fairly predictable in these situations. They rank eighth in third-down conversion rate, but they’ve had to rely too much on Smith creating outside of structure. That rate will likely drop unless they add to the playbook.”
If that wasn’t enough, Nguyen posted on X on Tuesday that two of Geno Smith’s interceptions on Sunday came from same concept on third and long.
Smith is responsible for his throws, and he was clearly fooled be the Bears’ defense on two interceptions, but it’s still a little concerning that Kelly hasn’t been a difference maker in his first month with the team.
The good news for Kelly and the offense is that the running game was more effective in week 4, and the offensive line started to play like a competent group against the Bears. Kelly made adjustment to the running game and Jeanty finally had opportunities to do some of the things he was drafted to do.
With Kolton Miller (ankle) headed to injured reserve and expected to miss significant time, the challenge won’t be getting any easier for the Raiders‘ offense in the weeks ahead. If there was ever a time for Smith to play like a quarterback making $40+ million per year and Kelly to coach like the highest-paid coordinator in the league, now would be the time.
x: @raidersbeat
Kelly is overpaid and overrated, he has had success in college but hasn’t in the NFL. Geno Smith is widely overpaid and overrated, he stinks a d has his whole career except for one year. Pete Carroll is a has been, old dog can’t learn new tricks that’s why Seattle got rid of him. How he handcuffed the oline and the team by sticking it to JPJ, I can’t understand the best lineman we have.
In Kelly’s first season with Philly they were number 2 in yards per game (only trailing the Manning Broncos that set records) and they were number 1 in rush yards by a lot. He was still top 5 the next year in offensive yards. He may be overrated but he definitely had success coaching offense in the NFL before.
This is the guy Mark handed the team over to. He’s not even full time into football. Yet another side business he’s involved in.
Tom Brady says post-NFL life is about ‘building trust’ as he makes business play with Hertz
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/tom-brady-says-post-nfl-career-all-about-building-trust-making-smart-business-play-hertz
Maybe instead of spending the $$ on old Pete and Chip they should’ve offered Ben Johnson a contract he couldn’t walk away from. Hindsights 20/20 but 1 Ben Johnson is greater than Chip and Pete. I was also wanting Robert Salah as DC. Tom chose this group. He put his old buddy in as GM and then chose Pete, Chip and they basically begged P.Graham to come back. The entire organization runs through Tom now which for Mark that’s great but for the rest of us that know Tom who would have a hard time getting out of a wet paper sack let alone run an NFL franchise.