The Las Vegas Raiders have found their next head coach: Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. The team is expected to make the hire official after Kubiak coaches in Super Bowl 60 on Sunday.
Kubiak, 38, has drawn praise and skepticism from across the NFL. Here’s what players, analysts and media members are saying about the move.
Sam Darnold, Seahawks QB
“He’s unbelievable. Just the things that I learned when I was with Klint in ’23, just schematically, and then getting to learn from him as a coach, as well, and as a person. The grit. He wakes up at insane hours. He gets to the facility at 4-4:30 in the morning, and he’s there later than anyone. He’s a grinder. He loves football. And he’s very honest, and he’s forthcoming with his players that I think myself and a lot of the guys really appreciate about him.”
Christian McCaffrey, 49ers RB
“Klint’s amazing, man. … He’s somebody that’s poised, he’s under control, but he’s a killer, man. It was just fun to be able to spend a couple years with him and he deserves it all. So pumped for him.”
Nate Tice, analyst
“Raiders job is more appealing than at first glance with an actual path to a QB & the weapons they have. Kubiak’s offense fits those players & the scheme helps raises the floor of their weakest part (OL). Still need plenty more, but things are lining up in a key offseason for LV.”
Chad Johnson, former NFL WR
“I love Klint Kubiak to the Raiders. But the whole problem is the players, it’s the situation, it’s the quarterback, the uncertainty. Obviously you know (Fernando) Mendoza is probably going to be the first one taken. But, Unc, you need more pieces than just that, especially where Kubiak’s coming from.”
Skip Bayless, commentator
“I can’t go higher than a B, because there is too much x-factor. There is too much unknown. … Nobody can really know how he will be as the leader of a franchise. You can’t teach it. You can’t be born with it. You just have to have it. Your father can’t bring it out of you genetically somehow.”
LeSean McCoy, former NFL RB
“I like the hire. But I mean, what are we really talking about? How good are the Raiders going to be? … I like the hire, but you’ve got to do something else. I love (Maxx) Crosby, but it might be time to give him up. He’s a great player. Let him go to a contender and get some picks, get some players. Because you need more than an offensive coordinator.”
Colin Cowherd, host
“Give me of all these coaching hires that we’re going to look up in four years and go, ‘Wow that worked out better than I thought.’ And mine is Klint Kubiak. This league is about GM, owner, quarterback, offensive weapons. Kubiak, Brock Bowers, Fernando Mendoza, (John) Spytek, Ashton Jeanty.”
Albert Breer, NFL reporter
“It should, by the way, come as no surprise that Vegas likes Kubiak. Spytek won a Super Bowl with his dad, and his dad had more success as a coordinator under Mike Shanahan against Tom Brady’s Patriots than any in football during the early years of Bill Belichick’s Patriots dynasty.”
Josh Dubow, AP
Gary Kubiak-Klint Kubiak are 10th father-son head coaches in NFL history (including interim stint for John Fassel). 3 of fathers won Super Bowls (Don Shula, Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak) The Kubiaks are now in a race with the Shanahans to become 1st father-son head coaches who both won Super Bowls.
John Middlekauff, analyst
“To me from a football standpoint, what fires me up the most and would if I was a Raider fan, his offense is tailor-made to Fernando Mendoza. And if you’re Klint, you come in, you have some core pieces there on offense. You got a star tight end, a running back that you need to take up a level, and the No. 1 pick on offense. And for the first time, it feels like the Raiders now have a vision in a couple years.”
