Tony Pauline has been one of the best-connected insiders on the Raiders in the last year and he has been all over the team’s pursuit of Klint Kubiak in the last few weeks.
Pauline was the first to report that Kubiak had a second interview coming with the Raiders and he shared a few more details on the Raiders’ pursuit of Kubiak on Wednesday.
“I was told yesterday that he’s going to be visiting with the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders. I’m told that if the Raiders job is not available to him and it’s just the Arizona job, there’s a very likely chance he goes back to Seattle,” Pauline said on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness with Q Myers.
Asked by Myers about his gut feeling on Kubiak and the Raiders, Pauline said the coveted coordinator could demand a huge contract, and mentioned one hurdle to the situation to keep an eye on.
“I’d say right now it’s probably 60-40 that he takes the Raiders job if it’s offered to him. Like I said in the report, he is the 8th candidate. He is the guy that everybody wants right now,” Pauline said.
“It’s a matter of him being comfortable with the situation in Las Vegas as to whether or not he takes it. He has the leverage right now. I mean, there are teams that want him as the head coach. So he can basically pick and choose as he wants.”
“I think what’s going to happen is since we’re down to the wire, they will probably make Kubiak a huge offer. And as far as the verbal, I just think they’re going to put a huge offer in front of him. Whether Kubiak says yes on Saturday or whether he waits till after the Super Bowl, we’ll have to wait and see.”
As far as Kubiak being “comfortable with the situation” in Las Vegas, Pauline addressed that earlier in the week.
In his Wednesday column at Essentially Sports, Pauline said any candidate taking the Raiders job “must be comfortable with minority owner and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady looking over their shoulder and potentially second-guessing decisions.”
Some would describe Brady’s role in 2025 as more than just looking over Pete Carroll’s shoulder, so Brady’s actual role and involvement is probably something Kubiak is going to want clarification on before taking the job in Las Vegas.
The expectation is that Kubiak will interview with the Cardinals and the Raiders over the weekend and if Kubiak doesn’t take the Raiders’ job, Davis Webb appears to be the no. 2 candidate on their list.
As Pauline alluded to, Kubiak has a lot of leverage and there will be pressure on Tom Brady to deliver his top candidate after being turned down by Ben Johnson a year ago.
If Kubiak wants the job in Las Vegas and his agent plays his cards right, Kubiak should be looking at a deal that is similar or better than what Johnson got from the Chicago Bears a year ago.
According to an ESPN report in February of last year, Johnson signed a five-year deal with the Bears worth around $13 million per year. That should be the minimum agreement Kubiak’s camp should be willing to accept if he takes a job in this year’s hiring cycle.
If the Raiders and Kubiak agree to a deal, it cannot be finalized until after the Super Bowl, and Kubiak has the ability to back out of any verbal agreements made before the Super Bowl. Pauline reported earlier in the week that Seattle has been putting a “full court press” on Kubiak to bring him back for another year as their offensive coordinator.
x: @raidersbeat
Let me know when this fiasco comes to a conclusion……
Looks like they didn’t learn anything from last year’s search?! If Kubiak turns them down, like Johnson did, they’ll be left scrambling.
Brady,Gray and Davis as well as anyone else should have no say whatsoever on who the head coach hires for staff. And Spytech should be listening intently to the head coaches input on player personnel.
There are far too many people with their fingers and mouths all over the cookie batter.
Obviously, the author overstated the interest in Kubiak by the other teams. If he is indeed the 8th candidate why didn’t any team, but the Raiders and Cards, wait him out?
Spytek should listen intently to the head coaches on player personnel? Like he did with Carroll when he told him to bring inForsythe, Geno, Lockett, and all the other bums he brought in?
The GM needs to have authority over personnel, period. Like Howie Roseman.
Is there any credible Information about the Influence Tom Brady has on the Raiders day to day operations? Did he Influence the hiring of McDoofus? Is he screwing with coaching hires like Pete Carroll’s son being hired for a position with no qualifications? Does Brady get into game planning and game day play calling? If Brady has his fingers in the mix, he should be held responsible if he screws things up.
Raiders will find a way to Fu$k it up!
The Raiders need, in addition to a competent offensive line, competent veteran quarterback depth, namely mobile Malik Willis as the starter, who would cost much less than and, is younger than Lamar Jackson and is on the rise. Seek out a trade for mobile, battle tested and cerebral Joshua Dobbs, from the Patriots, as the backup and then draft Fernando Mendoza, on a rookie contract. That way Mendoza won’t be under pressure to start immediately and can do what Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love did, sit for three years and learn. That’s how you add competent depth at this position. Thereby, by the time Mendoza is ready to start, hopefully, the Raiders will have built up the team in other areas. Additionally, go get Philiph Rivers to mentor all three quarterbacks. In my opinion, there is NO better person to mentor young quarterbacks than Rivers.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to address the (not so) Special teams. The offensive line and Special Teams coaches could use a serious upgrade. Look at how Seattle has revamped it’s special team. Systemic, systematic rebuilding is the road to return to respectability. What everyone can agree on is the past few attempts at short term fixes have not produced effective results. It seems that we are stuck with the guys who call themselves “Raiders Management,” so let’s see how they, this year, address last year’s “team” and debacle that they put on the field.
Kolton Miller, Stone Forsythe, Zamir White, Dillon Laube, Tyree Wilson, Alex Cappa, Kenny Pickett, Geno Smith and lead footed, immobile Adian O’Connell all need to be let go. Their contracts could be used on inexpensive youthful players with tremendous upsides and, to a lesser degree, injury histories. Additionally, get a couple of fullbacks who are tight end body types and USE them on third and short instead of putting additional pressure on Ashton Genty. That’s called being innovative and pragmatic. The Ravens “sometimes” use Derrick Henry as a battering ram on third and short. At the very least, the Raiders should consider, if not incorporate, this tactic.
Round 1, Pick 1: Mendoza QB Indiana
Round 2, Pick 36: Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon Ducks G
Round 3, Pick 67: Akheem Mesidor, DE, Miami
Round 4, Pick 102: J.C. Davis, Illinois OT
Round 5, Pick 174: Kage Casey OL Boise State
Round 6, Pick 181: Gracen Halton, Oklahoma Sooners DT
That’s a nice, well thought out plan. That said, it will never happen in Vegas unless they get a real management team.