Klint Kubiak arrived in Las Vegas with a clear mission: give a stale Raiders offense a jolt. The organization didn’t hire him by accident. His reputation as a sharp play-caller, along with his status as a Super Bowl champion, made him an appealing choice for a team looking for real offensive direction.
There’s more to it than résumé, too. Kubiak has already made a strong impression with his tone and his approach, bringing the kind of straightforward edge that has landed well inside the locker room. But the bigger reason the Raiders were willing to wait on him was simple enough: around the league, he’s viewed as one of the game’s better offensive minds.
That reputation showed up again in a recent survey by The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, who asked several NFL defensive play-callers and veteran assistants to rank the league’s best play-callers. Kubiak landed at No. 9, a noticeable rise from where he stood a year ago.
He wasn’t on the list at all after the 2024 season. Then came his one-year run with the Seattle Seahawks, and suddenly he was in the mix as a top-10 name, ranging as high as No. 5 and no lower than No.
- That spread settled him into the ninth spot overall, but the bigger takeaway is that coaches around the league clearly see him as a proven offensive force.
“The Seahawks offense was one of the biggest surprises of last season,” Nguyen wrote. “They finished 10th in offensive DVOA and eighth in explosive play rate (12.1 percent).
Coaches said Kubiak isn’t a one-year wonder. He’s had good offenses in Minnesota and had the Saints offense rolling before they were hit hard with the injury bug in 2024.”
Opposing coaches also seem to respect the way he attacks a defense. One AFC defensive coordinator pointed to the variety in Kubiak’s play-action game and the way he spreads the ball around.
“His play-action shots are to unlikely targets; it’s not always the receivers, it’s the tight ends, it can be a back,” an AFC defensive coordinator said. “And then I think he’s unaffected by what others might have in their minds of being a successful game.
He’s going to play the way they need him to play to win. So it’s true team ball.”
That kind of flexibility mattered in Seattle, especially after the team moved on from D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Jaxon Smith-Njigba still gave the offense a dynamic target, but Kubiak’s system helped unlock how often he was involved.
“Anytime you’re able to get a receiver like Smith-Njigba, who’s very talented, but anytime you’re able to get him as many touches as you do, that means that somebody’s doing a hell of a job designing plays,” a defensive coach said.
The challenge in Las Vegas is a different one. The Raiders still have plenty to sort out on offense, and the receiving room is one of the biggest question marks.
But Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty are in place for a few years, and Fernando Mendoza could be a franchise quarterback. If that all comes together, Kubiak should have another chance to prove why so many coaches view him so highly.
For all the praise, though, there’s still one clear area where he has to get better.
Seattle’s offense was productive almost everywhere last season. The Seahawks scored the third-most points in the league and finished eighth in total offensive yards.
But in the red zone, they were only 22nd. They converted 55.4% of their trips inside the 20 into touchdowns, a number that trails the standard set by the league’s best offenses.
The Seahawks still won the Super Bowl, and their defense was the best in football. Las Vegas probably won’t be able to lean on that kind of support in 2026. That’s why Kubiak’s red-zone work matters so much more now.
According to Football Guys, Seattle leaned heavily on the run once the field tightened. That approach can keep drives alive and avoid mistakes, which matters for a team trying to score more consistently.
But the best offenses don’t settle for safe. They finish.
Kubiak has already earned a place among the league’s most respected offensive minds. If he can sharpen what happens once his offense gets close to the goal line, he may move even higher on that list - and help push the Raiders further out of the offensive mud they’ve been stuck in for too long.
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