The Las Vegas Raiders are undergoing a major change throughout the franchise. Minority owner Tom Brady has overseen the hiring of a new head coach, Pete Carroll, and a new general manager, John Spytek. However, with new hires always come new questions about those already in the building and one of those was assistant general manager Champ Kelly.
Kelly was initially brought in as the assistant GM under Dave Ziegler in 2022 and became the Raiders’ interim general manager in 2023 when they moved on from Ziegler. He interviewed for the general manager position that offseason, but the team went with Tom Telesco instead.
While Kelly remained with the Raiders under Telesco, the same will not be happening under Spytek as the Raiders and Kelly have agreed to part ways, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network:
The #Raiders and assistant GM Champ Kelly have mutually agreed to part ways, per sources.
New GM John Spytek is making over the front office and Kelly, the onetime Raiders interim GM, will pursue opportunities elsewhere.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 17, 2025
This move isn’t a surprise, as Kelly had recently interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager position, which is now open. Now that Kelly has officially moved on from the Raiders, he can truly pursue other opportunities, and there is little doubt he will land somewhere in a prominent position.
Before joining the Raiders, Kelly spent six seasons with the Chicago Bears as the franchise’s director of pro scouting and later the assistant director of player personnel and spent many years with the Denver Broncos before that.
The Raiders are in the midst of a new era as they look to turn around a long spell of mostly unsuccessful football. Spytek wants to get his people in the front office, and Kelly simply was not part of that plan. Now, the Raiders continue to move forward this offseason with plans to turn the page toward success at the highest level.
Maxx Crosby: ‘Most optimistic I’ve been’ since joining the Raiders
There is more optimism surrounding the Raiders this offseason, and that is even apparent to superstar defensive end and team leader Maxx Crosby.
Crosby spoke about how difficult last season was as he dealt with injuries. The Raiders’ star said that the arrival of Pete Carroll and John Spytek has made him feel more optimistic about the state of the franchise than he’s been since joining the team.
