Klint Kubiak is changing the culture in Las Vegas, and according to at least one veteran player, Kubiak’s approach to training camp this year was different than any camp he has experienced.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers didn’t offer share names, but said a veteran player told him the Raiders have benefitted from a difficult training camp.
“I had one player in the locker room telling me, ‘Q, this was the hardest training camp I’ve ever been a part of,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show. “It [was] a veteran [who said] ‘It’s the hardest training camp I’ve ever been a part of, but the hard work that we’re putting in is paying off on the field.’”
Kubiak has been laser focused in his first eight months with the team, and GM John Spytek talked about Kubiak’s work ethic and attention to detail before the start of the season.
“[Klint is] very thorough, very detailed, very hardworking,” Spytek said of his first-year head coach during his media availability last week.
“He doesn’t have time… phone calls are about 2 minutes and then you might get hung up on before you actually get a chance to say goodbye,” Spytek continued. “I just appreciate he’s the same guy every day. He challenges the guys. He holds them accountable. There’s a discipline to the way that he sets up a schedule and what he demands of the players that I think is consistent with the really good coaches that I’ve been around.”
Raiders first-year DC also making an impression…
Kubiak had relationships the majority of his top assistants prior to hiring them, but defensive coordinator Rob Leonard was an exception.
Leonard broke into the NFL coaching ranks in 2013 with the New York Giants and this season is his first as a coordinator. He had been the Raiders’ defensive line coach since 2023 and came highly recommended to Kubiak by people in the Raiders’ building, including Maxx Crosby.
Leonard has just one game on his resume as a defensive coordinator, but Sunday’s effort against the Miam Dolphins was one of the most encouraging defensive performances from a Raider team in a while.
Notably, Leonard has worked under a few of the most respected defensive coaches in the league, including Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, and it showed against the Dolphins on Sunday.
After a vanilla approach to defense under Pete Carroll in 2025, the Raiders put the league on notice with their defensive playmaking capabilities in week one.
x: @raidersbeat