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UCLA Star Gets Honest About Raiders OC Chip Kelly

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Levi Dombro | Last updated Feb 27, 2025 12:01 PM ET

The NFL Combine is taking place this week at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. All 32 NFL teams are in attendance to meet with the 329 invited prospects and watch them go through interviews with the media, medical examinations and on-field workouts.

This gave reporters a chance to catch up with All-American UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who played under Raiders' new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly when he was the head coach at UCLA. Schwesinger had nothing but positive things to say about his former coach.

"I think they're getting a great coach," Schwesinger said about the Raiders hiring Kelly. "You can pull up any of the games, there's free runners running wide open every game for the most part. They're really getting a pretty genius offensive mind."

Las Vegas had one of the worst offenses in the league last season under offensive coordinators Luke Getsy and Scott Turner. Part of the problem was that the Raiders had two below-average quarterbacks steering the ship, but the play-calling and rushing attack both left something to be desired as well.

Schwesinger's comments speak volumes because even though Kelly chose to leave UCLA and join Ohio State as an offensive coordinator last season, the star linebacker still has a reverence for his former coach. Pete Carroll hired Kelly early in the process of filling out his coaching staff and made him the highest-paid coordinator in the league.

It is hard for Raiders fans not to get their hopes up about the offense this season as the team finally has what many consider to be a top-notch play-caller. Their first priority will be finding a franchise quarterback but with Kelly and several other great offensive minds in the room, this unit could make a major turnaround this season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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