Raiders hire Champ Kelly as assistant general manager

After hiring Dave Ziegler as general manager last weekend, the Raiders made headlines by announcing the hiring of longtime Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels as their new head coach earlier this week. Now, they continue to add to their overhauled front office.

Las Vegas announced the hiring of Anthony "Champ" Kelly as the franchise's assistant general manager on Wednesday. Kelly joins the Raiders after 15 years in the NFL, most recently with the Bears.

Kelly began his career on the gridiron at the University of Kentucky, where he played four years as a wide receiver and defensive back. He then played four years professionally with the Lexington Horsemen of the National Indoor Football League/United Indoor Football before moving into a coaching and front office position with the team in 2007.

It was that same year that Kelly made it to the NFL as a scout for the Broncos. By 2008, he'd been promoted to assistant coordinator of pro and college scouting, and by 2010 he was elevated to assistant director of pro personnel. He served in that role for five years before taking a job with the Bears as their director of pro scouting.

Kelly spent the first two years of his time in Chicago in that role, and in 2017 was named the team's assistant director of player personnel. He spent five seasons there, seeing his name begin to surface in job searches for general manager and assistant general manager jobs until he finally landed with the Raiders in 2022.