Chip Kelly: If you get a chance to work with Pete Carroll, you're pretty excited about it

After winning a national championship with Ohio State, Chip Kelly is back in the NFL as the Raiders' offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll in 2025.

Kelly, 61, was last in the league as San Francisco's head coach in 2016. He told reporters in a Wednesday news conference that working with Carroll was one of the big reasons he wanted to join Las Vegas’ staff.

“I think everybody in the coaching profession, if you get a chance to work with Pete Carroll, you’re pretty excited about it,” Kelly said, via TheAthletic.com.

Why make the leap back to the NFL now?

“Obviously, this is the highest league of football. The competition is at an all-time high,” Kelly said. “It’s that competition that drives you. And then talking with [General Manager] John Spytek and [team owner] Mark Davis and just where everybody is aligned in this organization and then getting a chance to talk to [minority owner] Tom Brady about what he feels he can help Pete and Mark with. I was just excited about that alignment of everybody.”

While Kelly has been known for his fast-paced offenses, entering his first NFL stint, he’s evolved over time. He pointed out on Wednesday that the Ohio State offense huddled a lot in 2024 and wasn’t just focused on running a ton of plays.

“It was drastically different from when I was a college coach at Oregon and we were trying to get as many snaps a game in as possible and run guys off the field,” Kelly said. “We’ve evolved that way just because I think the game itself has evolved. There’s a trend overall that the number of snaps both at the college and at the NFL level are down, so you have to adjust.”

With Carroll set to enter the season as the oldest head coach in league history, Kelly could eventually take over at head coach if things go well for the club. But when asked if he’d like to be a head coach again, Kelly said that’s putting “the cart way ahead of the horse.”

“I’m really excited to be here with Pete, and I think anybody that tries to look too far down the road is going to get run over,” Kelly said. “You better make sure that you concentrate on exactly what’s right in front of you. I don’t have to be a head coach again. That’s not something I need to do or a box I need to check. I just really enjoy coaching.

“I’m really not concerned [about it]. If I never coach again after this season, then I would have a life that I never dreamed I could ever have in football. I’m going to coach for a long, long time as long as someone will have me. Whether that’s as a position coach or as a head coach or as a coordinator, I’m not really caught up in that stuff.”

Kelly recorded a 28-35 record as a head coach in three seasons with the Eagles and one with the 49ers. Ohio State averaged 35.7 points per game and 6.9 yards per play in 2024 en route to winning the CFP National Championship over Notre Dame last month.