Chip

Kelly

It sounds like the expected organizational culture change is officially underway with Tom Brady and Pete Carroll at the helm. The Raiders reportedly tripled Kelly’s Ohio State salary to secure his services. It will be interesting to see how much money ownership will be willing to throw at the position coaches as Brady and Carroll attempt to make their mark.

Pete Carroll brings aboard his former Pac-10 and NFC West nemesis to coordinate the Raiders’ offense. Carroll and Kelly coached against each other in the college ranks from 2007-2009, while Carroll served as USC’s head coach and Kelly operated as Oregon’s offensive coordinator (2007-2008) and head coach (2009). The two briefly coached against each other during Kelly’s 2016 season serving as the 49ers’ head coach while Carroll was with the Seahawks. Kelly returned to the college ranks after a 2-14 season in the NFC West.

Jones also adds that Kelly “could get looks in Tampa Bay.” The 61-year-old former NFL head coach is fresh off winning a national championship in his first year as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and had spent the previous six seasons at UCLA before leaving to take the job at Ohio State. Kelly spent six seasons in the NFL (2013-2016) during his time with the Eagles and 49ers. His offense ranked top five in both yards and points per game during his first season with the Eagles, and they finished 12th in scoring in his final year in Philly in 2015. Things went far worse for him in San Francisco, as his 49ers went 2-14 a year after Jim Tomsula led the team to a 5-11 record. There haven’t been any official reports of Kelly meeting with a team this offseason, but it wouldn’t be surprising if things ramped up in the coming days if the interest is real.

Notable as it may be for the college football world, Kelly was also linked to the Raiders, Seahawks, and Commanders as a potential offensive coordinator candidate, and most recently interviewed with the Seahawks. Clearly eager to get away from UCLA, the former NFL head coach won’t be returning to the league this year, as he now heads for the Buckeye State to work with Ryan Day.

Kelly continues to draw interest from NFL teams. He was passed on by the Raiders for their offensive coordinator position and was loosely linked to the Commanders — although there’s no report of the two sides ever speaking with one another. Much like newly-minted offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Kelly is a former NFL head coach whose offensive prowess in the college game never quite carried over to the pros. Also, like Kingsbury, Kelly has never worked exclusively as an offensive coordinator in the pros and could be worth a shot by a team in need of a play-caller.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler adds Kelly is also a candidate for the OC vacancy in Washington D.C. Increasingly embattled as his conference-upgrading school, Kelly is apparently the latest NCAA coach grasping for an NFL lifeboat as college football continues to undergo fundamental change at dizzying speed. Kelly hasn’t set foot on an NFL sideline since his disastrous one-year tenure as 49ers head coach in 2016. Now 60 years old, Kelly will have to make the jump soon if he wants to return to the big leagues.

The Ducks were slapped with three years of probation Wednesday, while Kelly was handed an 18-month “show-cause penalty.” It means any NCAA team that hired Kelly in the next 18 months would have to “show cause” to the NCAA why they should be allowed to do so. Kelly didn’t leave behind nearly as big of a mess as Pete Carroll did at USC, but he certainly skipped town at just the right time. Provided Kelly’s Eagles tenure doesn’t end after just one season, he should have little trouble getting another NCAA job in the future.

Caplan’s remark came in response to an article penned by Smart Football’s Chris Brown breaking down Kelly’s offense and why it is “fundamentally broken,” a must-read accessible at the link below. Brown noted that Kelly has failed to adjust to NFL nuances, among many other flaws. Kelly’s offenses got progressively worse in Philadelphia and the 2016 version looked putrid this preseason. Currently sporting the NFL’s worst assembly of skill-position players, Kelly is facing an uphill climb in San Francisco, to put it mildly.

Shanahan is fully expected to become the 49ers’ next head coach, leaving the Falcons with a vacancy at coordinator. Kelly was a serious candidate for the Jaguars’ coordinator job and will reportedly meet with Bill Belichick about a position with the Patriots. Switching to Kelly’s scheme would be a risk for the most potent attack in the league, but it is reasonable to believe Kelly will have much more success if he is allowed to just focus on the offensive side of the ball. Even so, the Falcons would be wise to look for some continuity with their next coordinator.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that the 49ers were likely to fire both Kelly and GM Trent Baalke and now they’ve done just that. Kelly didn’t have much to work with in San Francisco but two wins over the lowly Rams wasn’t enough to keep him employed. The 49ers struggled on both sides of the ball under Kelly and featured one of the worst run defenses of all-time. After failed stints in Philadelphia and San Francisco, it’s safe to say Kelly won’t be getting another head coaching job in the NFL anytime soon. The Niners have fired their head coach in three straight seasons beginning with Jim Harbaugh at the end of 2014. Pushing Harbaugh out was their first mistake.