The Raiders have found their head coach, but it will be at least another six days until Klint Kubiak can agree to a deal in Las Vegas and officially become the next head coach of the Silver & Black.
The Raiders and Kubiak have a verbal agreement on structure of a deal, but as it’s been pointed out many times, Kubiak is free to back out at any point before signing the contract.
There is risk involved in waiting for Kubiak, but according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, there isn’t a lot that Raider fans should be concerned about.
On the Adam Schefter Podcast this week, Schefter offered his perspective on Kubiak’s impending deal with the Raiders and shared a few nuggets on the immediate and long-term outlook in Las Vegas.
Schefter says the deal between Kubiak and the Raiders isn’t going to be difficult…
“This deal is going to get done after the Super Bowl. They’ll have to negotiate it and finalize it and agree to terms. But look, this is not hard to get done. This is a simple deal to do and all you really have to wind up doing is look at what some of these other head coaches got, all the rookie head coaches.
Last year, Klint Kubiak’s agent represented Ben Johnson when he got a deal done for Chicago. All the numbers are right there. You and I could do this deal in five minutes time, okay? So he’s gonna be the next head coach of the Raiders once they get the deal done, which will be after the Super Bowl, which will not be hard to figure out and get done.”
Schefter the Raiders’ approach to free agency and building the offensive line…
“Now if you’re the Raiders, you’ve got some elements here where there’s some real hope. You’ve got the number one pick in the draft. So you’ve got the chance to go take Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winning Indiana quarterback [and] he’ll be the number one pick in the draft. You’ve got to pair him with Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers.
You’ve got $90 million in cap space this off season, which means they’re going to be bolstering the offensive line. Look at all the free agent offensive linemen. A couple of them are going to wind up in Las Vegas as rich men. They’re going to attack it, I think, the way the Bears did last off season, when Ryan Poles went out and traded for Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney, and he signed Drew Dalman in free agency. I think the Raiders are going to have a similar approach this year to their offensive line.
So you get Mendoza with those offensive weapons, with 90 million in cap space, with Tom Brady as part of the ownership group, and you match him with Klint Kubiak, who’s done a great job running the Seahawks offense, and all of a sudden, lo and behold, we have the makings of a respectable Raiders team. The nucleus is going to be there, the foundation is going to be there, and that’s why it was so important, I think, for this team to go higher and get the deal done for Klint Kubiak, because they’ll never have to worry about finding an offensive mind as long as he’s their head coach.”
Kubiak expected to hire coaches away from the Seahawks…
“I think the fact that he’s leaving means that it’s probably not going to be the only hit to Seattle’s coaching staff. The chances are he’ll be taking some of his trusted assistants with him to Las Vegas. And I don’t know how many or who yet, but I will say there’ll be minimum one, two, three coaches that go with him to Las Vegas and that’s going to leave a void for the Seahawks.”
Could the Seahawks defensive coordinator follow Kubiak to the Raiders?
Schefter didn’t offer any names, but the California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore brought up one on Monday.
“If I were a Raider Nation, I would get familiarized with the guy by the name of Aden Durde. He’s the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator. But don’t be surprised if he’s a prominent figure in all this,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“Well, but Vinny, he’s a defensive coordinator. That would be a lateral move. Yes and no.
He doesn’t call the defensive plays for the Seattle Seahawks. That’s Mike Macdonald. Remember, the head coach is a defensive minded head coach who calls the defense,” Bonsignore continued.
“So there’s ways to get around that if he wants to up his resume a little bit and be the actual defensive play caller. Then that wouldn’t necessarily be a lateral move. There’s, I think, some other things that you might have to do in terms of the title. But keep your eye on that.”
x: @raidersbeat