Tim Kelly is in his third season as the New York Giants' tight ends coach and the 2026 campaign will mark his 12th year coaching in the NFL. He spent the final seven games of the 2025 season as the Giants' interim offensive coordinator.
Last season, Kelly oversaw a tight end group that was highlighted by second-year standout Theo Johnson. Building off a strong rookie season, Johnson set career highs with 45 receptions, 528 receiving yards and a team-leading 5 touchdown catches. In 2025, six tight ends across the league caught touchdown passes of 40+ yards; two of them were Giants tight ends Johnson and Daniel Bellinger. Both players caught a 40+ yard touchdown in the same game, at Denver in Week 7. They became the first tight end duo since 1961 to record a 40+ yard touchdown in the same game.
Elevated to interim offensive coordinator prior to Week 11, Kelly helped guide the Giants to 100+ rushing yards in each of the final seven games. Under his expanded role, the team averaged 137.9 yards per game on the ground, the seventh best in the NFL. In Weeks 17 and 18, the Giants scored 34 points in back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 15 and 16 in 2019.
In his first season leading the Giants' tight ends group, Kelly mentored Johnson, who caught 29 passes for 331 yards and one touchdown in 12 games. Johnson's 331 receiving yards were the fifth-most by a Giants rookie tight end in franchise history. Johnson's lone touchdown grab came on a 35-yard pass vs. Washington in Week 9. It was the longest touchdown reception by a Giants tight end since Evan Engram caught a 75-yard touchdown at Tampa Bay (Sept. 22, 2019). Johnson's rookie campaign was cut short due to a foot injury suffered in Week 13 at Dallas.
Kelly spent the previous two seasons (2022-23) with the Tennessee Titans, the first as the team's passing game coordinator and 2023 as the offensive coordinator. Prior to arriving in Tennessee, he spent eight seasons with the Houston Texans, including three campaigns as their offensive coordinator.
In 2023, Kelly coached a Titans offense that started rookie Will Levis at quarterback for nine games. In his first NFL action, Levis threw four touchdown passes in a victory against Atlanta. Derrick Henry ran for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns, and DeAndre Hopkins caught a team-high 75 passes and accounted for seven scores.
The previous season, Kelly's duties included work with the Titans' tight ends, putting together the first- and second-down passing game, and helping with the offensive plan in the red zone. The team's tight ends collectively ranked seventh in the NFL at their position with 952 receiving yards.
Kelly entered the NFL in 2014 as the Texans' offensive quality control coach and added assistant offensive line duties in 2016. He served as tight ends coach from 2017 to 2018, and in 2019, he was promoted to offensive coordinator, a title he held through 2021 while also coaching quarterbacks in 2020. During his tenure, the Texans won four AFC South titles (2015-16, 2018-19).
In 2021, third-round rookie quarterback Davis Mills played in 13 games with 11 starts and set a then-franchise rookie record with 2,664 passing yards, completing 263 of 394 attempts (66.8 percent) for 16 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and an 88.8 passer rating.
The Texans' offense led the NFL in yards per reception (12.6) and yards per play (6.4) in 2020, when quarterback Deshaun Watson topped the league with a franchise-season record 4,823 passing yards.
In Kelly's first season as offensive coordinator in 2019, the 10-6 Texans won the AFC South title. Kelly worked several players into the offense, including tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills, and running backs Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde, who produced his only career 1,000-yard season. Tunsil, Watson and Hopkins were all selected to the Pro Bowl. Houston finished the season with a 3,500-yard passer (Watson), a 1,000-yard rusher (Hyde) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Hopkins) for the first time since 2012.
Kelly began his coaching career in 2008-09 at Illinois-Wesleyan, where he was the defensive line coach for the 2009 CCIW Championship team that ranked ninth among all defenses at the NCAA Division III level. He also coached two first-team all-conference selections.
Kelly was the defensive coordinator, defensive line coach, and recruiting coordinator at Minnesota State-Moorhead in 2010, and a graduate assistant at Ball State in 2011 and Penn State in 2012-13.
Kelly played defensive tackle at Eastern Illinois, starting all 48 games in his collegiate career, and serving as the team's captain in 2007. He was named to the Capital One Academic All-District V Team in 2006 and 2007. Kelly received his bachelor's degree in sports administration from Eastern Illinois in 2008 and his master's degree in sport management from Illinois State in 2010.
A native of Chicago Heights, Ill., Kelly starred at Marian Catholic High School, where he is a member of the East Suburban Catholic Conference Hall of Fame. Kelly and his wife, Katie, have two daughters, Norah and Quinn. His brother, Dennis, was an NFL offensive lineman for 12 seasons.
2024-Present: New York Giants - Tight Ends
2025: New York Giants - Interim Offensive Coordinator
2023: Tennessee Titans - Offensive Coordinator
2022: Tennessee Titans - Passing Game Coordinator
2021: Houston Texans - Offensive Coordinator
2020: Houston Texans - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2019: Houston Texans - Offensive Coordinator
2017-18: Houston Texans - Tight Ends
2016: Houston Texans - Offensive Quality Control/Asst. Offensive Line
2014-15: Houston Texans - Offensive Quality Control
2012-13: Penn State - Graduate Assistant
2011: Ball State University - Graduate Assistant
2010: Minnesota State University Moorhead - Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
2008-09: Illinois Wesleyan University - Defensive Graduate Assistant
