It’s only the second week of February, but it feels like the Raiders already know their quarterback going into next year and still have a decision to make on their next head coach.
Tom Brady and company don’t actually know their future quarterback, but flagship radio host ‘JT the Brick’ did call Fernando Mendoza to the Raiders a “lock” this week on his weekday show.
”I think he’s going to be our quarterback. I think he’s going to be the no. 1 pick. I think it’s a lock,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show.
As for the head coach in 2026, there doesn’t seem to be a favorite to land in Las Vegas, but ESPN’s Dan Graziano made an interesting prediction this week.
“My prediction for the next Raiders coach: Robert Saleh, former Jets coach and current 49ers defensive coordinator,” Graziano wrote at ESPN on Tuesday.
“Saleh has been on Las Vegas’ short list in the past, and his work in San Francisco this season has caught a lot of people’s attention around the league. His Jets tenure didn’t go great, but that’s true of most people who coach there. It doesn’t sound like teams will let his Jets tenure deter them from talking to him this time around.”
“Whoever gets this job must have a plan for offensive coordinator and the development of a young quarterback, likely Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. But Saleh is part of that Shanahan/McVay network and should have no trouble putting together an offensive staff. The Raiders were last in the NFL with 14.1 offensive points per game and 245.2 yards per game this season.”
Saleh is somewhat of a surprise pick, but it’s worth noting that he was one of the team’s favorite candidates to interview a year ago.
A report in October from The Athletic’s Mike Silver said Tom Brady and company tried to lure Saleh to Las Vegas as a defensive coordinator with an agreement in place that he would eventually take over for Pete Carroll.
“[Saleh] had three serious head coaching suitors after the 2024 season, receiving interviews from the Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars,” Silver reported on Friday.
“Saleh was even more in demand last January as a potential defensive coordinator, but he made it clear that if he didn’t get a head coaching job, he was overwhelmingly partial to returning to the 49ers. That conviction held even when the Raiders, after hiring 73-year-old Pete Carroll, offered Saleh a record-breaking contract to become the team’s defensive coordinator, with the understanding that he’d be in line to succeed Carroll as head coach.”
Saleh might not feel like the most likely candidate to end up with the Raiders, but it’s worth noting that the same decision makers that offered Saleh a huge deal a year ago, are still in Las Vegas today.
Nothing about the job Saleh has done in the last 12 months has hurt his stock, so maybe Graziano is on to something with the notion that Saleh might be the frontrunner to get the Raiders’ head coaching job.
It’s still early in the hiring process, and new jobs are opening up every day, but one of the strongest offensive-minded candidates in this year’s pool is Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
There isn’t a lot of buzz around Kubiak with any teams specifically, but the Raiders could make a lot of decisions worse than hiring Kubiak. He fits the description many believe Brady and Spytek are looking for in their next head coach.
If the Raiders were to go the route of hiring a defensive-minded head coach like Saleh, they would run the risk of losing multiple offensive coordinators if Mendoza ends up spearheading a prolific offense in Las Vegas.
By hiring Kubiak, the Raiders would not risk losing the architect of their offense in a year or two… and that ought to be an important detail for a team expected to take a quarterback with the first overall pick in the upcoming draft.
x: @raidersbeat
Saleh had trouble fixing the Jets offense, that led to his firing. What makes one think he would fix the Raiders offense? They need to hire a young offensive minded HC to develop the young QB.
It’s got to be kubiak, no Saleh, no harbaugh, no flores, no retreads
Kubiak should be the one but course the raiders will mess it up .
You all are right 👏👍🤙
Ameer Abdullah, Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams, Robert Spillane, Demico Autry, Jacobi Meyers all did well for other teams, this year. These players were not the problem, Raiders “leadership” ( or more accurately the lack thereof) was. Tre Tucker’s and Michael Mayer’s “problems” are the Raiders organization, most specifically offensive line and inept quarterback play. If anyone doubts this then watch them go to another team and be productive. The Raiders need, in addition to a competent offensive line, veteran quarterback depth, namely Malik Willis as the starter, Joshua Dobbs as the backup and a rookie who won’t be under pressure to start immediately. That’s how you add competent depth at this position.
Zamir White, Dillon Laube, Tyree Wilson, Kenny Pickett, Geno Smith and Adian O’Connell all need to be let go. Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to address the (not so) Special teams. The offensive line and Special Teams coaches could use a serious upgrade. 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” that they put on the field. No matter what they do, all the sportswriters will talk about is how things are looking up, until the team actually starts playing games.