Will Klint Kubiak be the head coach to finally resurrect the Raiders’ offense in 2026?
Not since Jon Gruden was in the boss’s seat have the Raiders fielded a respectable offense, but there is a lot of enthusiasm around the organization and among the fan base about what Kubiak is going to be able to do with an offense that features Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers and eventually Fernando Mendoza.
But as Derek Carr pointed out on his podcast this week, Kubiak and Gruden aren’t the same, and having played for both, Carr pointed out one of the biggest differences between the two, at least in terms of the schemes they run.
According to Carr, Kubiak is a coach who doesn’t necessarily give a lot of freedom to the quarterback before the snap the way Gruden did.
“In this system, it’s not like a freedom thing. It’s pure progression. This is the play. This is the read. Here’s this. Here’s that. They try and build it all in,” Carr said of Kubiak’s offense on the Home Grown with David & Derek Carr podcast.
“What we grew into a little bit with Klint. I was like ‘Hey, man. This is what I’m used to’ and he was interested. We started incorporating some of that. I don’t know Kirk’s background. I don’t know what he’s been asked to do. Fernando is obviously not going to have free rein as a rookie. We started building some of that in, so did Klint keep that with Sam [Darnold]? Did he keep it through Seattle?”
“Now Kirk’s a smart guy, so do they keep that kind of stuff? But it’s not a lot of at the line I’m handling stuff. There’s alerts like I’m calling this play, alerting with this play. But it’s not like, ‘You see something, this is the moment, man….’ It’s not like that.”
The good news for Mendoza is that if there isn’t a lot of changing plays at the line of scrimmage with Kubiak, it should only move forward his timeline to being able to handle the offense.
Fewer decisions at the line of scrimmage should be a good thing for a quarterback lacking experience.
For now, Cousins will be the starter in Las Vegas, and with Bowers out for at least a game or two, it’s probably best to keep the rookie quarterback on the sideline until the offense is at full strength.
x: @raidersbeat