Why Raiders' Youth Movement Will Define 2025

The Raiders Are Confident

The Raiders have improved their offense heading into this season. However, there will still be questions surrounding just how well all of the Raiders' new pieces will work together. Following practice this week, Raiders Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly expressed confidence.

Kelly believes that while the Raiders are undoubtedly young at certain positions, they have enough veteran presence at the right positions to help mitigate that.

"I feel good, and I think part of it for me, my comfort level as a coach is Geno [Smith] is there.  So, having a veteran quarterback - I think if you had maybe a bunch of young wideouts and a young guy pulling the trigger, you've got a rookie at the running back spot, that's a little bit different. But I think the fact that Geno is there, that Jakobi [Meyers] is there, Jakobi has gotten a lot of reps, and then there's a lot of experience at the tight end spot," Kelly said.

"So, we feel pretty good about some positions, but the other guys, that's what this league is. There's going to be certain spots where no one's totally set in their depth at every position and got veterans playing everywhere. It just doesn't happen that way. Some positions you feel really good about. Other ones, you feel good, but you're not sure until you get them in a game. And so that's what I'm excited about, those young guys getting a chance to go play in a game." 

Kelly is excited to be back in the National Football League, after coaching in the college ranks for nearly the last decade. Kelly's offensive prowess is well-respected, but he knows he must evolve, as the game of football has and will always continue to do.

"Oh, the game's definitely evolved. I think that's a great question. And the first part, I'm really excited. The one thing about the NFL is it's the best in the world. And go against a Mike Vrabel coached team. Mike did an unbelievable job when he was at Tennessee. He's a defensive guy. His teams are always going to be really well-prepared, and so we've got our work cut out for them. And that's the beauty of it; it's competition at the highest in the game I love, so I'm excited to see how our players go perform.