Just Win, Baby: Chip Kelly slightly opens curtain on Raiders’ offensive identity

Offensive coordinator didn’t tip his cap much, but notes his offense adapts to players

At this stage of the offseason, garnering any specifics for any football team is an exercise in the generic.

Sure, the questions must be asked as there are several curious to the nature of a football team that has a new head coach and general manager. And any regime change merits queries on what to expect. But nary a coach or personnel person are going to be forthcoming with details.

Especially in May and June.

Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was no different. The Silver & Black’s new play caller arrives with some serious accolades — namely orchestrating the National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes offense last season — and is the lead man in resurrecting a Raiders offense that was erratic in 2024.

Consistency will very much be key.

And like mentioned above, the questions came flooding in. (But before that, I just wanted to reiterate the hilarious retort Kelly had when queried about prized rookie running back Ashton Jeanty’s stance changing from his standing Michael Meyers one to a more traditional bent version.)

Adaptation

From the get, Kelly didn’t want limit his offense and noted he isn’t going to be forcing a round peg into a square hole in Las Vegas. Kelly said he’s going to adapt his Raiders offense to the personnel available to him and his long history from the college to pro game is indicative of that.

“I think you always adapt to your personnel. There’s not a system — like you can say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this,’ and then if that’s not the strength of your players — I think part of the OTA process for us is getting to understand what the strengths of these players are, and then how do you play to those strengths,” Kelly said after one of the team’s OTA sessions. “Some teams are heavy running back laden, some teams are heavy wide out laden, some teams the quarterback is just a drop back guy, but he’s not a movement guy. It all depends on who you have personnel wise, and then you try to fit in their strengths into the scheme that you’re going to run. And we have a lot of really, really good coaches on our staff.”

This common-sense approach wasn’t so common the last two Raiders regimes. At times, system took precedent over personnel and it resulted in erratic to no production at time sand really hampered Las Vegas overall.

Kelly does have young star power at his disposal as he takes the helm for the Silver & Black offense in tight end Brock Bowers (13th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft), center Jackson Powers-Johnson (second round of 2024 draft), and running back Ashton Jeanty (sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft) along with productive veterans at other key spots in Geno Smith (quarterback), Kolton Miller (left tackle), and Jakobi Meyers (wide receiver), to name a few.

Las Vegas needs to determine the best starting five along the offensive line and the hierarchy at both running back and wide receiver. And that’s what OTA’s were for and the June mandatory minicamp are for: Discovery, evaluation, adaptation.

“So, it’s also a blending of that, like where they came from and what they feel really confident doing, and then really making an evaluation of what each individual group, offensive line, tight ends, running backs, quarterbacks, wide outs do best, and then how do we match that up with a total system and a scheme,” Kelly said. “Because there’s enough out there that we’ve all done, but the key is matching to our guys strengths and what they do really, really well.”

All-In

Asked point blank if he envisions someone becoming the identity of his offense, Kelly delved into generic coach speak. As noted above, at this point of the offseason, the Raiders are doing a lot of discovery and evaluation. And the answer to this question likely doesn’t preseason games, if not, the regular season.

This is where Kelly slightly opened the curtain on the Raiders’ offensive identity.

“JWB. Just Win Baby. There was a legendary person in this organization, and it’s the truth. There are games you’re going to win 9-6, and there are games you’re going to have to win 38-37 and do enough on each side of the ball in phases to contribute to winning,” Kelly noted. “Because winning in this league is hard. The last team that went undefeated in this league was the ‘72 Dolphins. So, it’s been a long, long time. Everybody that’s been in this league or spent any time in this league knows how hard it is to win, and it really is Just Win, Baby.”

Kelly does have a very young tight end in Bowers that posted elite statistics in his rookie season. And Smith is going to love throwing the ball to a tight end that moves and works like a wide receiver. And Jeanty gives the offensive coordinator a scintillating ball carrier that’s equal parts speed and power. But to fully take advantage of the weaponry, the Raiders offensive line needs to be effective, if not stout, for things to click fully.

And all that can change from game to game, depending on who is available to Kelly gamedays and who the opponent is.

“Your game plan has to understand who’s available, who you’re playing against, and can we score enough points that we score one more than our opponent? And that’s really, hopefully, what our identity is, is that we do enough on our side to help our defense and help our special teams beat whoever we’re playing on any given Sunday,” Kelly said.

Smith, who will be a key player on offense as the starting quarterback, provided his own at-a-glance look at the Raiders offense. Hint, it’s a work in progress.

“I think the offense is, like I say all the time, we want to be efficient. That’s the main thing, right? We want to do well in the situations, the third downs, the red zones, but also, we want to be explosive,” Smith said. “And so, when teams come up and play us in man to man, we got guys who are going to win those matchups. And I really feel good about where we are. Still a work in progress, but we’re in a good spot, and we just got to keep working hard to get better.”