Lincoln Kennedy Floats Rumor on Chip Kelly, Hints at Origin of His Hire 10 Months Ago

There have been a lot of rumors swirling around the Raiders coaching staff this year, but not all of them have hit the mainstream in the first half of the season.

On Monday, former Raider great Lincoln Kennedy brought up a detail about Chip Kelly’s hiring that has mostly flown under the radar for the last 10 months.

According to Kennedy, Kelly was brought to Las Vegas primarily by someone in the organization other than Pete Carroll.

“At first, I thought he was untouchable because what I had heard was that Pete Carroll didn’t actually hire Chip Kelly. There was other people in the organization that hired him. And so even though Mark Davis hired Pete Carroll, there was a disconnect there,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.

“I had heard rumblings that they didn’t really communicate in the building and stuff like that,” Kennedy continued. “I couldn’t confirm or deny that, but the thing is that there was a level of disconnect there.”

Kennedy didn’t mention Tom Brady in his comments, but many believe it was Brady who pushed to bring Kelly to the Raiders.

Brady has a relationship with Kelly going back to at least 2011 when the Patriots consulted with the former University of Oregon coach for consecutive seasons.

It was reported in the second week of the season that Brady and Kelly spoke frequently throughout the week about game planning, but that storyline was quickly scrubbed from the internet by anyone associated with the league.

It has been talked about at length, but many have said behind the scenes (and sone publicly) that it’s difficult to understate Brady’s influence on the Raiders. He is believed to be involved in every aspect of the organization and is especially involved in building the key components of the roster.

If Brady’s influence brings success to the organization, his role will be celebrated, but based on his first season in an official capacity with the team, there are going to be some bumps to the process.

Many believed Kelly was Brady’s “guy” in the organization, and it seemed like that dynamic was probably what Kennedy was referring to when he said he thought Kelly might be “untouchable.”

From the first month of the season, Kennedy was one of Kelly’s biggest critics and he shared why he isn’t giving Kelly a mulligan just because of key injuries along the offensive line.

“Chip Kelly was touted as a messiah, if you will, when it comes to offensive coordinating. His welcome back to the league, everybody, including myself, was amped about the possibilities of being creative… but you’re the third worst team in the league. That can’t happen,” Kennedy said.

“And even if you tell me that you don’t have your personnel, well, wait a minute, you got hired early enough to where you should be able to get the players that you want or that you need or have the influence into that… or that’s the part of the disconnect that was there. Don’t tell me you don’t have the players in order to be successful when I see the plays that you were calling aren’t going to be successful. If you expose your tackles, for example, and open ends and have open rushers against Myles Garrett.”

And they did a good, a decent job of trying to find him. But when he was isolated one on one, he was the wrecking terror that we know him to be, especially when you’re trying to hold on to the football. So that’s that level of disconnect and execution that can’t happen.”

x: @raidersbeat

RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Chip Kelly Fired! Raiders Embarrassed by Browns, Geno Smith Struggles

On this episode of the Raiders Squad Show, we open with Chip Kelly getting fired – was it the right move, and what other changes could be coming? Then we dive into the Raiders’ tough loss to the Browns, key takeaways, and why the offensive line issues keep holding this team back.