Kubiak set to leave for Raiders after Super Bowl
Schefter: Seahawks will need a new OC in 2026
The Las Vegas Raiders were willing to wait a few extra days to talk to Klint Kubiak for a second time about their head coaching position and it turns out that their patience will pay off. According to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday morning, Kubiak “intends to try to work out a deal” to become the next Raiders head coach.
The Seahawks will need a new offensive coordinator in 2026 and hopefully for the next seven days the only job that Kubiak is focused on is how to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Bonus Sunday article: Another batch of Seahawks film studies!
Kubiak’s “will he/won’t he leave” journey in coaching interviews over the past month has always looked heavily in favor of he will. Kubiak was the possibly the most-requested assistant coach for head coach openings and his resume was loaded with most of the usual prerequisites. You could say he had a “nose” for being a head coach:
Nepotism
Offense
Success
Experience
It was only a blip in the expectations last Monday when SCHEFTER reported that he wouldn’t be surprised if all the jobs were filled by Wednesday (aka before they could talk to Kubiak again) that I started to question if Kubiak was actually leaving. With only two jobs left available, both for historically-terrible franchises, it was looking plausible that Kubiak would bet on himself and stay another year.
These reports from Schefter and Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero are much more concrete sounding though. Kubiak must really like the prospect of getting a head coaching job in 2026, working alongside Tom Brady and GM John Spytek, and most likely coaching presumed number one pick Fernando Mendoza.
The Raiders also have star tight end Brock Bowers and potential star running back Ashton Jeanty, giving Kubiak a bit of a head start on rebuilding that offense, especially compared to what he would have had to deal with in Arizona.
Our friend All-22 Coach did an hourlong breakdown of what to expect from Kubiak in the Super Bowl:
I recently wrote about who I think Kubiak’s replacement could be and why. I also wrote about how much different the Seahawks could look in 2026, including the probability that Kubiak would have to be replaced too.
Kubiak’s season with the Seahawks went better than expected, if for no other reason than where Seattle’s going this week. Sam Darnold is an even bigger breakout “comeback story” than he was with the Vikings last year; Kenneth Walker III became PFF’s highest-graded back of 2025; the offensive line is getting more praise than it has gotten since the final days of Walter Jones and Steven Hutchinson; the Seahawks had their highest scoring ranking (3rd) in 20 years!
There were times to be critical of Kubiak and certainly his impact seems somewhat overrated — Seattle ranked 16th on third and 21st in the red zone and 25th in yards per carry — but for the most part the Seahawks got exactly what they wanted and what they needed from Ryan Grubb’s replacement.
Plus basically every key player is returning. Now it’s just a matter of knowing what to do to not lose assistant coaches like John Benton.
Bonus Sunday article: Another batch of Seahawks film studies!
The Seahawks are one win away from ending the season as the official best team in the NFL.
Klint Kubiak is one game away from officially joining the worst team in the NFL.
Given that this is a strong organization, I’d bet money that these guys embrace “train your replacement” mentality. The important leaders (MM, Durde, KK and JS) have all said at one time or another about EACH OTHER that they have a vision and are very clear on what they want. With such an emphasis on communication, I’m sure there was cross pollination happening internally even if the timebox was unknown. It’s not really a secret when you get to this level if you have aspirations of being an OC/head coach so I would absolutely buy that the organization has been planning on this internally for awhile. Peetz name came up last year; color me intrigued.
Side note: I hope none of this is really a distraction from the Super Bowl. All of our team mantras seem to be reliable rally calls to block out this potential noise but even I can feel the eventual shift in the magic they have created. I hope this imposes to the team to “make this next week count” and not focus on anything other than W.I.N (what’s important now).
Full court press to keep Benton, and Peetz as OC.