Chip

Kelly

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.

GM Trent Baalke has already been told he will be fired, but Kelly is still in the dark. Glazer reports Kelly will meet with ownership after the season finale on Sunday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday morning Kelly is expected to be let go.

The initial assumption had been that Kelly would likely lick his wounds and return to the NCAA, but that’s apparently not the case. Kelly’s NFL suitability has grown increasingly questionable with each passing season, but perhaps he’d be better off simply focusing on the nuts and bolts of offense. It seems unlikely. A high-wattage coaching personality, Kelly could likely only latch on with an established head man not worried about any potential usurpers on his staff.

Kelly was believed to be a strong candidate for the coordinator job in Jacksonville, but coach Doug Marrone decided to stick with long-time ally Nathanial Hackett. That leaves Kelly without a job, but Mortensen thinks New England is a “logical landing spot.” Kelly and Belichick have a long-standing football relationship which goes back to Kelly’s time at Oregon. It would not be surprising to see him land there.