After the Jacksonville Jaguars cleaned house, they hired Liam Coen as their head coach. They then began a search for an offensive coordinator. Given that this was the first time Coen held the job, it made sense to bring in someone with experience to guide him through the process. While the Jags set their sights on several intriguing candidates, one stood out: Chip Kelly.
Back in the early 2010s, Kelly rose to prominence when he turned Oregon into a powerhouse. The Philadelphia Eagles were impressed enough that they hired him to be their head coach. Unfortunately, he quickly proved that he wasn't qualified to run a team in the NFL and was ousted less than three years after getting the gig. Surprisingly, he got another shot with the San Francisco 49ers but quickly flamed out.
Kelly returned to the collegiate ranks but didn't enjoy nearly as much success as he did with the Ducks. Nevertheless, he routinely garnered interest from several NFL teams. The Jags were one of them, but it's a good thing that they passed on him.
Chip Kelly has a dreadful record as the Raiders offensive coordinator
While the Jaguars passed on Chip Kelly, the Las Vegas Raiders didn't hesitate to make him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL, believing that he was the right coach to steer the ship in the right direction after ranking 29th in points scored and 27th in total yards the year prior.
The expectation is that Kelly was going to bring the fireworks to the offense, but that hasn't been the case. In fact, it's been the opposite.
NFL Underdog posted on Twitter that Las Vegas ranks 31st in scoring, even though they gave Kelly a $6 million contract to turn things around. For the sake of clarity, though, that number was before the humiliating loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Following the Monday Night Football embarrassment, the Raiders are 30th in that area. Still, that's not what they paid for.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars rank 13th in points scored and 20th in total yards. Moreover, their running game is eighth in rushing touchdowns and fourth in rushing yards. Simply, hiring Grant Udinksi over Kelly was the right call.
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The Jaguars were right to hire Grant Udinski over Chip Kelly
From an outside perspective, it's hard to tell why the Jaguars didn't make a stronger push to hire Chip Kelly, but it's a good thing that they didn't try to match the Raiders' offense. Now, Jacksonville doesn't have a crystal ball and wouldn't have been able to predict that Kelly was going to flop, but the decision to roll with Grant Udinski has most definitely paid off despite the fact that he's a first-time offensive coordinator.
Because Liam Coen calls the shots on offense, it's a bit tough to know just how much credit Udinski deserves. That said, the stats and the offense's overall performance show that he's doing a good job of fulfilling whatever tasks he gets.
You have probably heard that experience for the sake of experience isn't necessarily good, and that's the approach the Jaguars took when they passed on Chip Kelly when they hired Grant Udinski.