The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense has been a mess all season, and it cost offensive coordinator Chip Kelly his job. A new report, however, suggests that the issues went even deeper than just lack of execution.
In an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” Wednesday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero revealed that there were instances where Kelly botched his own playcalls and left Raiders players unsure what they were running. In other instances, he even tried to call plays that the offense did not know.
“There were times, I was told, where Chip Kelly was repeatedly botching the playcalls,” Pelissero said. “He’s supposed to be, for instance, tagging a motion on a play so the receiver’s on the left, not the right. He forgets to say it, so Geno Smith’s going to the line of scrimmage and going ‘this doesn’t look right.’ There’s times where Chip, I was told, on several occasions, called a play that was either not in the gameplan or not installed at all.”
Chip Kelly messing up his own play calls and calling plays not installed is insane smh wow pic.twitter.com/9VEB9cy5Cv
— Marcus Johnson (@TheMarcJohnNFL) November 26, 2025
Kelly lasted just 11 games as Raiders offensive coordinator. If any of this is even close to true, it is easy to see why. It represents a shocking lack of basic competence from an NFL offensive coordinator, and explains a lot about why the Raiders have been so bad on offense all season.
The decision to bring in Kelly was reportedly pushed by Tom Brady, and it obviously did not pay off. The Raiders lured him away from Ohio State by offering him $6 million annually, making him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league. That, obviously, did not turn out to be money well spent.