The Las Vegas Raiders have chosen continuity for their defensive coordinator position. New head coach Klint Kubiak is promoting from within, elevating run-game coordinator and defensive line coach Rob Leonard to the role, according to multiple reports. The two sides are finalizing a deal.
Leonard, who has 14 seasons of NFL coaching experience, joined the Raiders in 2023 and was retained when Pete Carroll took over as head coach last year. Carroll expanded Leonard’s responsibilities by adding run-game coordinator duties to his title. Under Leonard’s guidance, the Raiders’ defensive line produced 46 sacks in 2023 and 37 sacks last season, ranking 18th in the league.
Kubiak is also reportedly retaining Joe Woods as defensive pass-game coordinator and defensive backs coach. Woods, who worked with Kubiak in New Orleans, returned to the Raiders last season for a second stint with the organization. He spent the 2014 season in Oakland as defensive backs coach.
Before joining the Raiders, Leonard spent a season with the Baltimore Ravens as outside linebackers coach under then-defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Kubiak served as Macdonald’s offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, creating a prior connection between Leonard and the Raiders’ new head coach.
Leonard’s NFL career began with the New York Giants, where he spent six years as a defensive assistant and assistant defensive line coach under Patrick Graham, who later became the Raiders’ defensive coordinator. He also coached linebackers with the Giants. Leonard then spent three seasons with the Miami Dolphins, holding various positions including linebackers coach and assistant defensive line coach.
Leonard has worked closely with Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby, and his promotion could help ease trade rumors surrounding Crosby, who has been reportedly disenchanted with the franchise.
Before entering the NFL, Leonard coached at his alma mater, North Carolina State, as a graduate assistant for three seasons (2010-12). He began his college playing career at Division III Washington and Jefferson before transferring to NC State, where he became a three-year letterman at safety and linebacker. He led the Wolfpack with 95 tackles in 2008 and earned the Mike Hardy Award. In 2009, he served as a defensive assistant at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Woods, with 34 years of coaching experience including 22 in the NFL, spent two seasons (2023-24) as defensive coordinator in New Orleans, where his unit ranked ninth in third-down conversion rate and fourth in fourth-down conversion rate, totaling 46 takeaways.
