It's hard not to feel bad for Las Vegas Raiders assistant general manager Champ Kelly. He likely should've been promoted to general manager after he took over the interim position when Dave Ziegler was fired.
He was then retained by Tom Telesco but wasn't even given an interview to replace him after he was fired. He now has to work for general manager John Spytek, who he used to outrank with the Denver Broncos years ago.
Kelly has seemingly done everything you could to get a general manager job but no team has given him a chance yet. Perhaps hitching his wagon to Ziegler was a massive mistake that's set him back but he's still in the mix to get a promotion this offseason.
The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they interviewed Kelly for their general manager opening.
We have completed an interview with Champ Kelly for our General Manager position.
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) February 15, 2025
This concludes our virtual interviews and we will begin in-person interviews next week. pic.twitter.com/v1alQ8lam9
The Jaguars have the only general manager opening still available and they've interviewed a robust list of candidates. The Raiders should be rooting for Kelly to get the job as they would get two third-round picks in return.
Regardless, Kelly has never been the head decision maker so it's hard to know how he'll do as a general manager. The Raiders did have a very strong draft last year, which he deserves some credit for.
Kelly should get a chance to be a general manager at some point and the Jaguars could seriously consider him. They've interviewed at least nine other candidates so Kelly really needs to stand out. If they hire Kelly, they can at least they're adding a professional who doesn't seem to care about the vanity that can come with being a general manager.