Over the final ten weeks of last season the Raiders had a resurgence. Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler were out as head coach and General Manager respectively and Antonio Pierce and Champ Kelly took over those role on an interim basis.
Because of the good feeling in the building after an inspiring 5-4 finish, many were hoping Mark Davis would make the decision to keep both in those positions, taking off their interim tags.
One of those things happened.
It was Pierce who got the nod as the new full time head coach, while Kelly watched as longtime former Chargers GM Tom Telesco got the GM job. Davis opting for experience at the position so as not to have a first time head coach and GM at the same time.
This decision doesn’t have to mean Kelly is out of the picture altogether. He is still under contract with the Raiders as Assistant GM and as ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez tells it, Mark Davis is hoping Kelly will stick around in that job.
“In talking with Mark Davis, he told me Champ remains with the organization [and] he hopes he sticks with the organization,” Gutierrez said in an interview with the Raiders broadcast. “When the season ended, the interim tags left… he went back to being the Assistant GM. Which is what he maintains and stays today. He (Davis) said he respects him, he appreciates everything he did for him so hopes he sticks around in that role.”
Kelly has had an interview with the Panthers for their GM opening, but nothing came of it. It wouldn’t be unusual for Kelly to step back into the Assistant GM role and hope for his time to come in the future. And doing so could be a win-win for him and the Raiders organization.
