Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold created a bit of a stir recently when he said a Las Vegas Raiders coach told him after the draft that the team had a "coin toss" between choosing Arnold and tight end Brock Bowers in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Some are taking that literally, believing the Raiders did flip a coin to make their decision, but it's highly likely whoever Arnold spoke to was saying it figuratively.
When asked about the story on Wednesday, Raiders assistant general manager Champ Kelly said, "I can't confirm that, at all," per ESPN's Paul Gutierrez.
"I can't confirm that, at all." - #Raiders assistant GM Champ Kelly. https://t.co/jaQpdUvw2O
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) May 8, 2024
As far as Bowers is concerned, Kelly called him an "offensive playmaker" and a "fun piece to have."
“His position is tight end, but to us he’s an offensive playmaker," he said, per Levi Edwards of Raiders.com. "He’s a fun piece to have because it’s going to be interesting to see how defenses ploy against him.”
Kelly was hired as the assistant general manager in 2022 but served as the Raiders' interim general manager last season after Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels were shown the door.
He received a pair of interviews for the full-time job, which ultimately went to Tom Telesco.
Kelly revealed he was able to "check my ego and put this team first" upon not receiving the job and getting to work with Telesco.
"When we first got together, he laid out expectations for me and I was transparent with him about how I viewed the team and some of the needs and some of the places that I thought we needed to do to make this team better," Kelly said of Telesco, per Levi Edwards of Raiders.com.
"I was able to check my ego and put this team first," he added. "It's not about me, it's really about Raider Nation, the alumni, to try to put our best product forward so that we can win football games for this city and Raider Nation."
Kelly's selflessness is exactly the kind of attitude the Raiders need to move this thing in the right direction.
Not to mention, he can help Telesco identify what didn't work with the previous regime, which will be a big benefit to this franchise.
