Klint Kubiak’s arrival in the desert represents a paradigm shift — in more ways that one.
First and foremost, by landing the former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator as the new head coach, the Las Vegas Raiders displayed not only uncanny patience to wait for the opportunity to interview Kubiak (twice), but they landed the highly-regarded play caller to lead the team.
There was no apparent panic.
It was deliberate and patient, so much so, that even general manager John Spytek noted they wanted the perception
of the coach search to be “boring”. Thanks to that, though, there’s tangible excitement on the potential Kubiak brings to the table. I know, if you’re a longtime Raiders fan, you’ve been jilted at the altar too many times to even have a smile on your face.
And I respect that.
But as quickly as Kubiak arrived, so did another swift shift: A youth movement in the coaching staff.
As you can see above, Kubiak is the man in charge at age 38 while his top lieutenants — offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard — are 37 and 38, respectively. Despite their respective ages though, that trio aren’t just geeks off the street. Kubiak enters his 13th season in the NFL (17 years overall coaching) while Janocko and Leonard have been in the NFL coaching circuit for 14 and 13 years, respectively.
Compare that to the the top-three coaches for the Raiders in the Pete Carroll era and it’s quite the pivot. Carroll helmed the Silver & Black at the ripe age of 74 years old while his offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is 63 and former defensive coordinator Patrick Graham (now the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive boss) is 48. The average age went from nearly 62 years old to nearly 38 in just one offseason.
Alongside 45-year-old Spytek, the Raiders top-two decision makers feature youth and we’ll see if the youth movement indeed proves fruitful.
But credit Kubiak here: While he’s amassed younger coaches to fill out his staff, it’s a mix of veteran coaches with bright-eyed youngsters.
The Raiders new head coach was quick to tab Mike McCoy (53 years old) as his assistant head coach. Serving as the Tennessee Titans’ senior offensive assistant before becoming interim head coach, McCoy brings a wealth of offensive knowledge to the table. Kubiak and McCoy were on the Denver Broncos staff together in 2017 and their 2026 reunion is a bit of a role reversal as McCoy was offensive coordinator and Kubiak an offensive assistant in Denver.
Kubiak also added 60-year-old veteran Joe DeCamillis as special teams coordinator. Interestingly enough, DeCamillis was the special teams boss the last time Sean McVay took special teams seriously in 2021. Since then, the Los Angeles Rams’ units have been lackluster. Like McCoy, the new special tams boss has Kubiak ties being on the same crew in Denver in 2016 that had Gary Kubiak as head coach, Klint Kubiak as quarterbacks coach/offensive assistant. Oh, and Spytek was in the Broncos’ front office during that time, too.
So for as much hype as Raiders minority owner Tom Brady gets in the team landing Klint Kubiak, the bonds forged by Spytek with both Gary and Klint played a part in landing a young offensive mind to captain Las Vegas.
Then there’s super veteran Rick Dennison, whom Klint hired as his offensive line coach with the Raiders. Talk about deep ties, Dennison worked with Gary in three different places — Denver (1995-2005, 2015-16), Houston (2010-13), and Baltimore (2014). Then the 67-year-old, 30-year coaching veteran worked with Klint in Minnesota (2021), New Orleans (2024) and most recently Seattle (2025).
If there’s a coach apt to install and teach the zone blocking scheme Kubiak prefers, it’s Dennison. He sat under the Alex Gibbs learning tree and soaked up all zone knowledge from the godfather of the modern zone blocking scheme.
While excitement and optimism are high at the moment, the proof will always be in the pudding. And how Kubiak and his desert marauders shape up as the offseason progresses into preseason and the regular season bears plenty of watching.
The young trio of head coach and offensive and defensive coordinators will grow into their respective roles. There’ll be growing paints — without question. But there’s also a good trio of veteran coaches to help them along the way in McCoy, DeCamillis, and Dennison.
Leonard has 21-year veteran Joe Woods to lean on as Kubiak retained him to be the defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach. While Janocko can lean on Dennison and 17-year vet Omar Young, who Kubiak hired to coach running backs. Meanwhile, DeCamillis has a young understudy of his own in Marquice Williams (40 years old), who the team hired as senior assistant-special teams.
In fact, Las Vegas seems to be in a tussle for an understudy for Dennison with Georgia as the Silver & Black are reportedly interested in offensive line coach Phil Rauscher.
The ability for younger coaches to relate to players while having the old-school methodology of the veteran coaches should be a sound mix. There are still key positions on Kubiak’s coaching staff that need to be filled, but the mix of youth and veteran leadership is a a good sign from the head coach’s first head coach excursion.
