Silver And Black Pride
At this point of the offseason, it’s sunshine and rainbows for the Las Vegas Raiders.
The team landed a much-hyped young offensive mind in Klint Kubiak to helm the team. Alongside general manager John Spytek, the head coach and chief personnel man rolled up their collective sleeves to build a roster via free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Raiders landed prized center Tyler Linderbaum to anchor the offensive line with veteran Kirk Cousins expected to earn the starting quarterback gig. Linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker were brought in to shore up a deficient defense, just to name a few free agent additions.
Las Vegas then proceeded to draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick and used the next 10 selections to bring 11 promising prospects into the fold. This group includes cornerback Jermod McCoy, a first-round talent the Raiders snagged in the fourth round due to long-term concerns with the Tennessee products knee.
And that mix of veterans and rookies alongside Kubiak and his coaching staff began the heavy-lifting during OTAs and minicamp doing the scheme and system installs. It was a venture where helmets were absent the Raiders’ shield initially before earning them in time for minicamp.
“We’re an improved team. Our guys have taken the coaching,” Kubiak said after the final day of the team’s minicamp on June 11. “They’re doing everything we ask them to do. I definitely see an improvement from where we started, and this time of year, you can kind of get lulled to sleep when the pads aren’t on.”
So it’s no surprise that our Bill Williamson noted that Raiders fans are feeling good.
But mistakes will happen. There will be no avoiding that. Especially with a rookie head coach — no matter how much a genius Kubiak at building and calling plays for an offense. How the 39-year-old first-time head honcho learns from the mistakes, corrects them, and grows is pivotal.
Training camp, preseason games, and the drastic deduction from a 90-man roster to the regular season 53-man slate are on tap for the Raiders. That late July excursion is where we’ll find out how the Kubiak era is going and the potential direction it will go. It’s when Las Vegas and the other 31 teams in the NFL get to put on pads and get physical — live contact. Kubiak is all too aware how vital that is.
“So, what team that we’re going to become, we’ll find out come training camp when we put pads on. There’s so many guys that are maybe doing great right now that will disappear come the fall,” Kubiak said. “There’s so many guys that you maybe not notice as much, but all of a sudden, whether it’s a running back or an offensive lineman or defensive lineman, now that guy really shows his value. So, you get what you can out of this time of year, and then the real evaluation comes with those 11 practices...
