Report Says Chip Kelly Let “Cat Out of the Bag” on Tom Brady a Long Time Ago

The Raiders will be back to the drawing board in their search for at least two coordinators (and probably three) at the end of the season, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Tom Brady was the point man on the coordinator hires a year ago.

There is reason to believe Brady pushed hard for Chip Kelly and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Selah during last year’s hiring cycle, and to the tune of a $6 million per year contract, was able to lure Kelly away from Ohio State.

Yahoo NFL insider Charles Robinson talked about Brady’s role in last year’s hiring process and said it wasn’t a great look for the Raiders’ first-year minority owner.

“Chip Kelly… let the cat out of the bag a long time ago [when he] said, ‘When I sat for an interview, the guy who got me on board was Tom Brady.’ He basically said that Tom represented the ownership group in the interview. He pointed at Tom Brady as being his guy that helped persuade him to end up taking this job with the Raiders,” Robinson said Yahoo Sports Inside Coverage.

“So not a great look for him to get fired and have been described as sort of a Brady inspired move, which when he ended up on Pete Carroll’s staff, people were like, ‘What’s the connection there? Wait a minute, what’s the connection between Pete and Chip Kelly?'” People weren’t making the natural connector to him becoming Pete’s offensive coordinator. And then after what Chip Kelly said, people were like, ‘The connector was Tom.’ He was just painted as a Tom guy.

How Did the Raiders Get THIS Bad?

The Raiders are spiraling, Chip Kelly is out, and Inside Coverage is breaking down how Las Vegas reached rock bottom. Andrew Siciliano, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab unpack why insiders are calling this the worst Raiders team in decades – from a historically bad offensive line that let Geno Smith get hit 20 times to the surprising Tom Brady influence behind the Chip Kelly hire.

“Then Geno Smith, obviously Geno Smith has the background that he has with Pete Carroll. There’s no question about that. But it’s been floated out there that Tom preferred Geno Smith over Sam Darnold, also not great,” Robinson continued.

“So what now has transpired? You have people through the league, particularly Patriots people, ex-Patriots people, who have proliferated throughout the NFL, who still have relationships with Tom, who still keep an eye on what’s going on with Tom, who are now asking, ‘Is everybody on the same page in that organization?’ And one of them I was talking to today said, ‘Look, man, I think Pete’s on his page. I think Mark Davis is on his page. And I think Tom is on his page… and I don’t think any of those three pages are together.’”

At this point, there’s not a lot the Raiders can do about last year’s mistakes, and as bad as the organization whiffed on a few hires, it’s fair to wonder if Brady is going to be the savior to the organization he has been framed to be.

Listening to former Raiders CEO Amy Trask last week, it sounds like there more concerning matters going on behind the scenes than just a few clunky coaching hires.

Trask didn’t clarify what she was talking about, but it’s only a matter of time before she or someone else shares more specifics.

With Kelly fired and Patrick Graham potentially out the door, as well, it will be interesting to see if Pete Carroll is afforded an opportunity to choose his own coaching staff in 2026.

For that to happen, Carroll would need to keep his own job, and that’s no guarantee at the moment, either.

x: @raidersbeat