Silver And Black Pride
By all accounts, the Las Vegas Raiders put all their eggs in the Klint Kubiak basket.
Sure, there were other intriguing candidates to assume the mantle of the 27th head coach of the Silver & Black such as Davis Webb (who remained with the Denver Broncos and got a promotion) and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. But Las Vegas rolled the dice by patiently waiting for Kubiak, who was orchestrating the Seattle Seahawks’ offense enroute to a Super Bowl win this past season.
Don’t lie: You were concerned the Raiders’ waiting game was going to end in Kubiak spurning the team. It’s okay to admit it now.
Thus, Las Vegas’ initial gamble paid dividends from the get now that Kubiak is captaining the ship. That was the initial major get for general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady — the two people owner Mark Davis tabbed to find his football team a new lead man.
And the upcoming 2026 campaign will tell Kubiak and Spytek plenty. Raider Nation, too.
One of the things the team learned very quickly is the new head coach is a pure football mind. He doesn’t jive with malarkey.
“I put that on our team leaders. It’s important for them to just come together before practice,” Kubiak said when asked about camaraderie his team displayed after a session back on May 20.
But I couldn’t help but chuckle at the following sentence to that answer: “I thought it was a little too lengthy. We probably lost two minutes of practice time right there, so we can dap it up a little quicker next time.”
Kubiak had a similar response when asked about schedule release video that had a nod to the movie “Step Brothers” that featured prized rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s acting chops, alongside veteran Kirk Cousins.
“Yeah, I’d love for him to focus on football more,” said Kubiak in deadpan.
We’ll see how the no-nonsense, football junkie approach permeates through the team this coming season. That’s one of many things that’ll surface in Year 1 of the Kubiak-Spytek combination. The head coach and general manage, respectively, are set to embark on a 2026 campaign — earmarked by a grueling schedule that features seven teams who made the postseason dance last year.
The duo will get to see where the team is thriving and lacking over the course of the initial season of the new era.
Las Vegas decision makers made it abundantly clear the plan is for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to sit and learn behind Cousins. The veteran has familiarity with the Raiders head coach and offensive play caller and won’t be behind as much of the eight ball as the rookie.
We’ll see how much of a competition the fight for QB1 really is when the Raiders get knee-deep in training camp and preseason tilts, but it has potential to get very intriguing with a lot of what-ifs.
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