Raiders Insider Shares Initial Difference Between Josh McDaniels and Klint Kubiak

For the second time in four years, the Raiders have hired the top available offensive coach to become their head coach and the hope for everyone involved is that the Klint Kubiak era won’t end up looking anything like the Josh McDaniels era.

The offense is going to be entirely revamped under Kubiak and based on his interactions with members of the media, Kubiak seems to be laser focused on changing the culture in Las Vegas.

But couldn’t the same things be said about McDaniels in his first few months with the team?

McDaniels showed up to the Raiders with similar vibes as Kubiak, but according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, one of the biggest differences with McDaniels was his inability to be the same person on the field as he was off the field.

“Josh McDaniels, the players liked him personally, they just didn’t like him as a coach and I think it was because… he was extremely personable away from the football field and on the football field, he almost tried to be a Belichickian-type curmudgeon and it didn’t fit,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.

“That’s not Klint. Klint is a guy that when he’s happy, he’s talking to you. Klint is a guy when he’s happy, he’s communicating to you. Klint is a guy that when he’s when he’s telling you, ‘Hey, I like this, I don’t like this.’ And so, they appreciate he’s very communicative. [Don’t] think he’s coming off as a non-communicative person because that’s not the case at all. A couple of people have mentioned that specifically. They think he’s extremely communicative.”

Can Kubiak break the trend of bad head coaching hires by the Raiders?

If the fans and organization learned anything from the McDaniels experiment, it’s that a successful coordinator doesn’t always translate to becoming a successful head coach.

McDaniels earned a few skeptics with his offensive embarrassment in Las Vegas, but two years removed from being fired by the Raiders, he made a huge career statement with second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who came up narrowly short in the MVP vote to Matthew Stafford.

For the record, though, Kubiak did run circles around McDaniels in the Super Bowl.

That detail might not mean much for the Raiders, but watching McDaniels win a Super Bowl in his first year removed from the unemployment line wouldn’t t have been an exciting end to the 2025 season.

x: @raidersbeat