Raiders' Chip Kelly replacement is already becoming painfully obvious

The Las Vegas Raiders' offense has been a disaster during the 2025 NFL season. While Geno Smith has certainly made his share of mistakes and the offensive line has not performed up to snuff, much of the finger-pointing is directed at offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.

Kelly was brought in this offseason to revolutionize an offense that ranked toward the bottom of the league in every metric last season. With a far better quarterback and an influx of young talent, Raider Nation thought that there was no way the offense would be as bad as it was last year.

Unfortunately, it has been far worse. Not only is Las Vegas averaging just 14.7 points per game instead of the 18.2 that they averaged last year, but they've already turned the ball over 13 times and have scored in the single digits on three occasions already, when they did just once a year ago.

They also got shut out against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7, as they failed to eclipse 100 yards of offense or gain more than three first downs. With things going so poorly, the team is surely looking for an upgrade at offensive coordinator. One great option may soon become available.

Raiders should replace Chip Kelly with Mike McDaniel if he is fired

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has long been considered an offensive genius. However, with his team taking a step back in consecutive seasons, and the franchise already heavily invested in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, McDaniel may end up being the scapegoat in Miami.

That could work to the Raiders' benefit, as he would be a massive upgrade over Kelly as a play-caller. It doesn't seem like McDaniel's firing is imminent, but it is practically inevitable by the end of the season if the Dolphins continue to struggle.

If Las Vegas also continues to struggle in 2025, adjustments will need to be made at both the quarterback and offensive coordinator spots. That could line up perfectly, as McDaniel could enter the fold in Las Vegas with a young quarterback that he can help develop.

There needs to be a succession plan for Pete Carroll as well, and if McDaniel could learn a bit under Carroll's tutelage and develop better leadership skills, he could eventually become the franchise's head coach as well. He is still just 42 years old, so McDaniel could be around for the long haul

Style-wise, McDaniel's West Coast offense is quite a bit more modern than Kelly's spread offense. In 2024, the Dolphins struggled when Tagovailoa went down, as they had to rely on a combination of Snoop Huntley, Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle.

In 2025, Tagovailoa has been turnover-prone as well, as he and Smith are the NFL's co-leaders with 10 interceptions. But McDaniel is just two years removed from having an offense that led the league in scoring, as well as several other offensive categories, and hung 70 points on the Denver Broncos.

McDaniel has learned under and alongside some of the greatest and most innovative offensive minds in the game, like Gary Kubiak, Mike and Kyle Shanahan, and Mike LaFleur, and he even worked under Dan Quinn, who is a close confidant of Carroll.

Obviously, McDaniel would need to get fired or part ways with Miami first, and Las Vegas would have to desire a change at offensive coordinator. But if both of these things happen, McDaniel feels like a painfully obvious play-caller for the Raiders to entrust.