Lincoln Kennedy Voices Major Change He Anticipates from Raiders at Season’s End

Lincoln Kennedy has been speaking on the Raiders without a filter for most of the season, and following Thursday’s 10-7 loss to the Broncos, he was as frustrated with the offense as he has been all year.

On Monday, Kennedy said he believes the Raiders are going to have to make changes at the end of the season but thinks head coach Pete Carroll is probably safe.

“They’ve made no improvements [on offense]. As a matter of fact, they’ve regressed and it’s disappointing because the way these things sort of fall out is that I don’t see Pete Carroll going anywhere for another year, at least,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.

“It’s probably going to have to happen to Chip Kelly,” Kennedy continued, seemingly talking about Kelly losing his job at the end of the season. “Then you’re going to have in fighting from what type of things that Q has talked about. It just hasn’t taken off and they need to be better. They need to be more efficient. They need to give their defense a chance if they’re going to win any more games.”

“This is so disappointing because I’ve never seen an offense struggle with some of the most simple and primary plays. You can’t get a first down on a third down and short. You have trouble scoring from the three-yard line when you got first down and goal. I mean, these things bug the hell out of me as an offensive lineman. There’s going to be some major changes. And the first thing I hope they do is figure out this offensive line. Because they’ve got to piece this thing together.”

There is still time for Kelly to get the offense on track, but it’s going to have to happen without Jakobi Meyers, who was shipped to Jacksonville last week, and the team’s two best offensive linemen on the sideline.

Kolton Miller remains on injured reserve with the ankle sprain and fracture he suffered in week 4 against the Chicago Bears, and it was reported on Monday that Jackson Powers-Johnson could miss the remainder of the season with the ankle injury that knocked him out of Thursday’s game.

Additionally, Geno Smith seems to be a broken quarterback.

At some point, if Kelly wants to hold on to his job, he might try to jumpstart the offense with one of the backup quarterbacks.

If the offense comes to life under Kenny Pickett or Aidan O’Connell, the decision makers in the Raiders’ building would have to take a close look at the season and figure out if the biggest issue with the offense might have been the starting quarterback.

It’s a long shot that any quarterback will find success in a Raiders uniform this year, but it might be Kelly’s best opportunity to keep his job.

And even though everyone seems to think Carroll’s job is safe, it wouldn’t hurt his resume to have the offense bounce back with a different quarterback, as well.

x: @raidersbeat

RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Las Vegas RAIDERS vs Denver BRONCOS RECAP | Coaching Staff on HOT SEAT

On this episode of the ‘Raiders Squad Show’, we break down the Raiders vs Broncos matchup and ask the big questions – what did we learn? We hand out grades for both the offense and defense, then dive deep into the coaching situation.