The Raiders may still be a week or two from settling on their next head coach, but buzz has been picking up around a couple of candidates in the last few days.
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter has placed Klint Kubiak at the top of the Raiders’ list for a while, and on Friday, the Las Vegas Review Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore offered an interesting comment on Broncos quarterback coach Davis Webb.
“It’s almost guaranteed, I would say, that the next Raiders head coach is in somehow, some way involved this weekend. Davis Webb, as well, and I think he’s gaining a lot of steam in Raiders quarters. So keep an eye on that,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate.
Bonsignore acknowledged three Rams assistant coaches in the mix for the Raiders’ job and made a notable series of comments on Kubiak.
“I don’t want to see the same from Klint Kubiak. I want to see, and I need to see, what are you going to be doing differently in this game to make sure that your offense has an advantage?” Bonsignore said of the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator prior to Saturday’s game.
“I do want to see some creative plays. I do want to see some creative play callings. I want to see him go outside of his bag a little bit. I want to see the run concepts. I want to see the protection for Sam Darnold. If Sam Darnold is hurt, how are you managing that situation? What are you going to do to help your quarterback who might not be 100 percent… so yes, the onus is on Klint Kubiak to shine right now.”
Safe to say, Kubiak responded on Saturday as the Seahawks put up 41 points, albeit on a battered San Francisco defense.
As for the buzz around Davis, Bonsignore may have been pointing to a report from Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer from the day before… but he could have information of his own on the Raiders’ coaching search.
Breer named Davis as his front runner for the Raiders’ job on Thursday (below) but added that hiring the 30-year-old assistant would be a gamble.
“He has the presence. He has the personality to reach players. He’s just a really unique guy and I think the football people in Denver would tell you his football acumen is where it needs to be so I think Davis would make a lot of sense for [the Raiders],” Breer said of the fit in Las Vegas for Webb.
“I think it would make some sense if it was Davis Webb. I think it would be a gamble, of course.”
Davis might be an unfamiliar candidate to many Raider fans, but he was considered one of the NFL’s top young coaching candidates well before now.
Prior to the season, league insider Ari Meirov listed Webb as his top head coaching candidate in the NFL under 40 years of age and said he made a huge impression on Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton in his initial interview.
“He’s on a rocket ship,” Meirov said about Davis in September.
“I’ll say it right now, when he becomes a head coach, I hope you guys heard it from me first, but his rise is remarkable. He transitioned from that backup role and the way he ended up in Denver is the story I love the most. When Sean got hired in Denver… he was running to fill out his staff and he was looking for a quarterbacks coach and he was just going through the process and he was like, ‘You know what, I’ll interview a bunch of guys, but I’ll probably hire one of these guys that I know from New Orleans.’”
“He interviews Davis Webb as part of the process and Davis Webb blows him away,” Meirov continued. “It was the most impressive interview that he did throughout the entire process, regardless of what position it was, and he hired Davis Webb on the spot. Ever since then, Davis Webb has had a vital role in Denver. Of course, we saw what Bo Nix did last year. He’s a very, very big part of that, of course, being the quarterbacks coach.”
“There were a number of teams who were trying to hire Davis Webb this offseason. He got a promotion to also becoming the passing game coordinator in his title, but this is somebody who in the preseason, the first preseason game versus Arizona, Sean Payton gave him play calling responsibilities. He was awesome at it.”
x: @raidersbeat