Raiders Cut Losses by Firing Chip Kelly, Highest-Paid NFL OC

The Raiders are already undoing some of the big spending that occurred this past offseason—the franchise’s first with Tom Brady as a minority owner.

After Sunday’s 24–10 home loss to the Browns—who started fifth-round 2025 NFL Draft pick Shedeur Sanders for the first time—dropped Las Vegas to a 2–9 record this season, the team fired Chip Kelly, who was hired in February and instantly made the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league.

The Raiders had lured Kelly away from Ohio State with a $6 million annual salary, a figure that tops what some NFL head coaches are paid. The deal was for three years, so Las Vegas will likely owe him a large portion, if not all, of the remaining cash on his contract. Kelly spent just one season in Columbus, helping the Buckeyes win the 2024–25 national championship in the first season of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Kelly’s hire was one of several major investments the Raiders made, including hiring new GM John Spytek and coach Pete Carroll. 

Brady played a pivotal role in the moves following the approval of his roughly 5% ownership stake last October. “Bringing in Tom Brady was bringing in somebody that was on the football side that I had been lacking having here in the organization,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in January. The Raiders also traded for quarterback Geno Smith and signed him to a two-year, $75 million contract extension.

Brady’s role with the Raiders has come under scrutiny, given his other job serving as Fox’s No. 1 NFL game analyst. During a Week 2 Monday Night Football matchup against the Chargers, ESPN showed Brady in the Las Vegas coaching booth wearing a headset. Kelly later said that he and Brady “don’t talk about game plans.”

Brady recently downplayed his day-to-day involvement with the various professional teams across his growing sports portfolio. “When I was on the field, it was much easier to influence the outcome of games,” Brady told Front Office Sports. “Now, I just get to play more of a mentorship role and try to provide my insight wherever necessary to help us go out there and compete.”

On the field, the Raiders have an uphill battle to turn it around this season, as five of their final six games come against teams that currently have winning records. 

In January, Carroll, 74, signed a three-year contract, while Spytek, 45, signed a five-year deal. Special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was also fired earlier this month.