Chip Kelly meets with key Ohio State target amidst NFL coordinator rumors
The Ohio State Buckeyes already lost its defensive coordinator after winning a national championship. Now, they're hoping to hang onto offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Kelly has been linked to several OC jobs in the NFL, including the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. One good sign is that Kelly is out on the recruiting trail for […]
The Ohio State Buckeyes already lost its defensive coordinator after winning a national championship. Now, they're hoping to hang onto offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Kelly has been linked to several OC jobs in the NFL, including the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.
One good sign is that Kelly is out on the recruiting trail for head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. He visited 2026 3-star tight end Colby Simpson this week for a workout.
Simpson is a 6-foot-6, 225-pound tight end and defensive end prospect from Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California. The school isn't too far from Kelly's last school, UCLA, and it's possible he was simply in the area after wrapping up the season.
However, this feels more like Ohio State liking Simpson a lot and unearthing a gem that Kelly wants to work with. It's hard not to consider this as a good sign that Kelly hasn't been getting expedited opportunities to make the jump to the NFL.
It would certainly make sense for Kelly to rebuild the Texans' offensive line and run the game as he did for the Buckeyes and give Ryans a trusted, veteran eye. Plus, working with CJ Stroud? It's hard to go wrong.
But the Texans could see competition from a divisional opponent. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones reported that Kelly is someone to watch for Liam Coen's OC role in Jacksonville.
Both Kelly and Coen run similar offenses, sticking to a lot of 11 personnel and using motion to create advantageous run angles. It'd be interesting to see how much influence Kelly would have here, though, as Coen will surely want to stick with more gap schemes and slower tempo compared to what Kelly has generally utilized in the past.
Would Kelly already bolt from Ohio State after one season? Most fans were frustrated with some aspects of his game plans, but as an X and Os and film guy, I thought he did an excellent job blending his own concepts into Ryan Day's passing foundation and situational tendencies. That's a tough task, and by the Playoff, the two worked well in unison.
The relationship between Day and Kelly shouldn't be underestimated. Coen doesn't have the same personal bond with Kelly as Ryans and Day do, so that might be a factor in how that plays out.
