What is the story about?
For what feels like the 100th year in a row the Las Vegas/Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders will roll into their next season with key changes to their coaching staff. The biggest being brand new coordinators to compliment a brand new head coach in Klint Kubiak. I mentioned the Raiders biggest wild cards being Klint Kubiak, Rob Leonard, and Joe DeCamilis in their respective units wild card segments, so feel free to read those and see more on each in that case. That said, a core principle of NFL teams comes
with their position coaches, where one can argue the 2nd most important coach on a roster is the OL coach. The Raiders overhauled their total roster, and heavily in their coaching staff, where certain coaches will go a long way not just for 2026 but beyond.
OL Coach Rick Dennison & Asst. OL Ben Wilkerson
- Dennison is the clear coach that’s going to be watched the most this season after the Raiders offensive line has struggled since the departure of former OL coach Carmen Bricillo. Dennison has spent 9 seasons as a primarily OL coach, the most recent coming in 2020 with the Vikings. To start his career, Dennison saw his units rank top 10 in 2002-2005 along with 15th in 2001. To end his career with the Jets/Vikings his unit ranked no higher than 18th. However, Dennison has seen his units rank incredibly highly in terms of the run game ranking top 8 each in 2025, 2019, and 2020 along with mostly top ten finishes outside of four seasons. The Raiders don’t need an elite offensive line, it would be nice, but they still are banking on heavy development. Kolton Miller & Tyler Linderbaum will anchor the unit, assuming both stay healthy, and after that there’s questions.
DJ Glaze is the likely starter at RT and he needs a big season to cement his position on the offensive line, and at tackle after key struggles in 2025 against speed rushers. Glaze has strength, good hand skills, but lacks the athleticism. Finding ways to make up for a loss of athleticism with improve technique is crucial for the Raiders, and Dennison. Additionally, Jackson Powers-Johnson needs to find consistency and stay healthy, while the Raiders would also like to see development out of Trey Zuhn, Charles Grant, and Caleb Rogers should they play or not. In addition, Spencer Burford and Jordan Meredith seemed to be relied upon as a possible starter and/or key depth and finding improvements in their games, while getting Meredith back to his 2024 form is a big ask.
I mention Wilkerson because of two things, the first being that Rick Dennison is unlikely to remain the Raiders OL coach after this season. Dennison served as an advisor and run game coordinator most of his career after 2020, and he joined the Raiders as their OL coach largely because of Klint Kubiak’s inability to find someone else to coach the room. Wilkerson has spent 2015-2025 as an assistant OL coach with the Bears, Giants, Jets, and Browns seeing some key development under coaches with the Jets and Giants. Wilkerson may be the one asked to step into the role as the Raiders OL coach in 2027, or the reason Las Vegas goes other ways.
- Steckel has been named not just a top TE coach in the NFL, but also a future OC and head coach candidate. Steckel saw a ton of development in his time with the Titans and Raiders while also having worked with WRs, QBs, and the OL. Steckel is big on blocking, something that the Raiders will want to see improved in 2026 after a poor 2025 season from the TE room. Additionally, Steckel has experience with OC Andrew Janocko, with familiarity working in a system similar to the one that Klint Kubiak will implement in Las Vegas.
Steckel has seen Brock Bowers improve each season, and in 2026 Bowers will be tasked with working less as a TE and more in a functional joker position on offense. That in mind, the Raiders will want to see more from Michael Mayer, Ian Thomas, and Carter Runyon who can all step up into a role as a depth TE and see a fair share of 30-50 targets if not more. Steckel may end up working his way into OC considerations this off-season and a strong season from the Raiders TE room in 2026 will go far not only for the Raiders success, but Steckel’s career.
DL Coach Travis Smith
- Smith rejoins the Raiders after spending time with the Bears and Titans as a DL coach, during his time both teams defensive lines struggled to see a ton of improvement, while also ranking near the bottom of the NFL outside of one season in Tennessee. Smith has done really well working with interior pass rushers on their development, something that Las Vegas has struggled with and ideally would like to see from Tonka Hemingway, JJ Pegues, Brandon Cleveland, and Thomas Booker. Smith will likely serve in a role that allows him to work alongside Rob Leonard, who should still have a big part of the defensive line coaching. Smith’s biggest role for the Raiders will be trying to find key development on their young defensive line especially with the Raiders investing decent capital the last two seasons along the defensive line.
CB Coach Joe Woods
- A former DC, Woods should have a big say in helping DC Rob Leonard adjust to his role as an NFL DC. Leonard has most of his experienced tied into the run game and pass rush, with little experience working with coverage units outside 2 seasons as an assistant LB coach. Woods has experience working with the Raiders secondary, coaching them last season, and seeing a breakout season from Eric Stokes while Darien Porter saw a strong rookie season as well. Woods is also tasked with helping the Raiders see development from rookies Hezekiah Masses and Jermod McCoy with additional development from Eric Stokes and Darien Porter. The Raiders secondary is young, and Woods is tasked with a big ask of assisting Rob Leonard’s defensive pass game scheme while also helping to develop their young secondary.
- Robinson worked with Rob Leonard during their time with the Ravens, and he should have an interesting role with the Raiders. Robinson worked as an assistant DB coach with the Ravens seeing some time under Colt DB Coach Chris Hewitt, Penn State DC D’Anton Lynn, Ravens DL coach Chuck Smith, Giants DC Dennard Wilson, and former Ravens DC Zachary Orr giving him a wide range of different schemes and coaches to learn from. Robinson spent just one season coaching DBs, and since transitioned to being a LB coach in 2024 and 2025 where in 2025 he was the primary OLB coach for the Ravens while also working with their nickel DBs (Alohi Gilman, Kyle Hamilton).
Robinson is extremely young at just 32 years old, and he’s tasked with a weird Raiders DB room especially at safety. The Raiders will likely deploy Treydan Stukes across the defense working in the nickel, strong safety, and free safety along with a BANDIT role. Jeremy Chinn, Devin Lafayette, and Isaiah Pola-Mao can play strong safety/big nickel role while Dalton Johnson will be asked to play free safety more often than not. Robinson’s not only adjusting to a new position group, but tasked with key development of two Raiders rookies. Joe Wood’s experience as a DC and working with safeties should help ease the transition but it’s incredibly interesting to see how Robinson will adjust, and how the Raiders safeties/nickels will play.
