Notable Las Vegas Raiders fits with Klint Kubiak’s Scheme

The Raiders are reported to be heavily interested in Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak, and Kubiak has mutual interest with the Raiders for their head coaching position. Las Vegas can’t officially hire Kubiak till the day after the Super Bowl but the two sides met on Saturday, January 31st and had dinner on Friday night likely showing a good sign that Kubiak is slated to be heavily close to becoming the Raiders head coach. Kubiak has had success in the NFL, he’s a creative play caller, does well with his play designs, and runs a ton of traditional wide zone with RPO heavy concepts. The Raiders do not have a ton of talent offensively, but it’s smart to see what talent they do have and how it fits with what Kubiak is looking for

QB Fernando Mendoza:

Kubiak’s system does a good job relying on RPO’s to create YAC opportunities and keep defenses soft and respecting a potential deep ball situation. Additionally, Kubiak’s offenses are reliant on very quick hitting pass attempts, throwing in rhythm, and with pre snap required concepts. Mendoza is reliant on RPO with high YAC and also does a good job throwing in rhythm with high accuracy, good footwork, and the ability to put the ball in front of his receiver as well. Additionally, Kubiak is reliant on working the sidelines and focusing on the 8-12 yard route concepts which Mendoza has been highly reliant on as well at Indiana. Mendoza fits the offense well, but will need to have a strong supporting cast as well more than the majority of rookie QBs

RB Ashton Jeanty

Jeanty is a traditional wide zone runningback, seeing a ton of success with Boise State in a similar concept but he also did the same with the Raiders in his rare opportunities to run wide zone (38%) where he averaged 4.25 yards per rush. Kubiak is reliant on the patient rushing game with an emphasis on the OL and TE to set up blocks and allowing rushers to hit the whole and get easy chunk yards of 4-8 yards. Additionally, Kubiak does have a tendency to scheme wide looks for explosive rush attempts, and Jeanty’s ability to work through contact with exceptional first step quickness does pair well. Las Vegas will need to add another runningback to the system as Kubiak has been reliant on a 2 back approach with the Saints and Seahawks. Additionally, Kubiak would likely emphasize the receiving ability from Jeanty similar to concepts used in Seattle and New Orleans that allow Jeanty to get into space and utilize his speed and body control to see 7+ yards a reception in ideal situations.

TE Brock Bowers

Kubiak has utilized Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba as a “joker” type receiver where Njigba has lined up at runningback 55 times, slot 172, and out wide 732 times. While those counts will likely be less with the Raiders and Bowers, Kubiak’s offense is reliant on times at moving receivers around, specifically high contested catch and YAC focused receivers which Bowers fits well. Bowers has traditionally seen his time moved around in the NFL lining up out wide 198 times in the NFL (18%), the slot 571 times (52%), inline 318 times (29%), and also has been utilized at H-Back, fullback, and runningback in the NFL. Kubiak’s offense will fit Bowers perfectly with his ability to work in a variety of systems and positional fits to focus on his YAC skills and Bowers should be the focal point of the offense and see north of 1200 yards.

TE Michael Mayer

Kubiak utilized 11 personnel 41.4% (29th NFL) of the time this season, and it’s a similar mark to his time in New Orleans as well. He used 12 personnel on 27% of the time, and 13 personnel on 3.3%. Kubiak’s offense does utilize the TE heavily and Mayer should be a focal point as well with Bowers working on the slot and boundary. Mayer is a traditional blocking TE as well who can work in the wide zone concept, which is similar to the role he played with Notre Dame and in his rookie season. Mayer does a good job fitting the receiving skillset and blocking skillset Kubiak likely would want to utilize with Bowers working as his joker.

WR Tre Tucker

Tucker does a good job working as a boundary receiver with his best aspects being the speed ability allowing defenses to be forced to play over the top and respect his downfield ability. Additionally, Tucker is utilized in pre snap motion well and Kubiak’s offense relies on the pre snap motion to flow out defenders and create natural separation of his receivers. Tucker is likely the second or third receiver in the offense but with Kubiak’s emphasis on YAC and sideline route concepts, Tucker could carve out a strong role.

WR Jack Bech

Bech fits the prototypical big slot that Kubiak has employed in both New Orleans and Seattle with Cedrick Wilson & Cooper Kupp. Bech isn’t Kupp, and he’s better than Wilson but he can be utilized in a similar situation as a true 7-10 yard receiver with YAC ability and additionally, the ability to work the sidelines, create separation, and run clear out concepts for designed looks to other receivers or Bowers. Bech is developing, wasn’t utilized in the slot much as a rookie, but his role would be similar to that of Kupp in 2026 with Kubiak.

Offensive Line:

The Raiders need to work on their offensive line, there’s no doubt about that but some of the pieces do have a natural fit with the offensive wide zone system that Kubiak would employ. Left tackle Kolton Miller has ran a plethora of concepts in his NFL career but did see his best success as a run blocker in the wide zone back in 2022, and that would be pivotal in helping the run blocking for Jeanty in 2026 and going forward. Additionally, guard Dylan Parham, while a pending free agent, does fit the wide zone as well and can help him utilize his athletic ability to work in space, pull on key concepts including Kubiak’s often used pin pull toss in the redzone, and prevent Parham from being overworked in his size and strength. While Parham will naturally need to increase his abilility as a pass protector, he’s consistently been a strong run blocker and works well in space, something that Kubaik’s offense is reliant on. Parham would likely shift towards right guard, and the Raiders would run more counter side runs to the left side with Miller and a new left guard to utilize his athletic ability running towards a strong side blocking with Miller and Powers-Johnson

Speaking on Powers Johnson, the center does fit the offense well. Oregon was a near identical offense to that ran by Kubiak focusing on the wide zone RPO heavy, and Powers-Johnson likely would slot back in at center where he’s a natural fit. Though with a rookie QB, you could see Las Vegas also take the approach of adding a veteran center and working Powers-Johnson at left guard to maximize his athleticism in the run game at a position of need as well. There’s zero doubt over whether or not Powers-Johnson would be an impact player for the Raiders, it just comes down to if that’s at center or left guard in 2026 and his history of injuries could put him at left guard to eliminate issues with a consistent injured center. DJ Glaze doesn’t have the athleticism to play a traditional RT role at the NFL level, and does need to kick into guard. He’s an adequate athlete but does well in the run game working to the 2nd level and getting his blocks held, Glaze could kick into guard and move to the left or right side though it’ll depend how effective he is at the position and how well he’s able to pull on wide concepts. Second year lineman Charles Grant and Caleb Rogers both fit the offense well, with both coming with natural athletic traits Rogers could force his way into the offense rather quickly and could see success as well with his athleticism, instincts, and power at the position. As for Grant, a year of development may go a long way, but he has the ability to play right tackle, shows good athleticism, and is naturally strong with a background in wrestling to understand leverage. If Grant is to come out and win the job at RT, that wouldn’t be a surprise especially with his natural skills and ability as a run blocker. William & Mary ran a heavy amount of wide zone run concepts at nearly 70% while Grant was their his senior season, and that same rate would be ran under Kubiak.

Other Notable Names:

WR Dont’e Thornton Jr

Thornton has a long way to go before he’s an impactful player at the NFL level. He’s a raw route runner with a limited route tree and can’t create separation. Additionally, Thornton struggles in contested catches despite being 6’5. Thornton could see time as a rotational player to utilize his speed on clearout concepts, designed RPO’s or as a receiver in the screen game to tap into his YAC skills. Thornton will need to develop but should see time as a designed YAC target similar to Juaun Jennings in San Francisco, just Thornton a higher caliber of athlete.

TE Carter Runyon

Runyon is an intriguing TE for the Raiders, he’s a high caliber athlete at the position and holds a strong 6’5 frame as well. He won’t see much playtime for Las Vegas and likely is near 100-300 snaps in a season as a rotational TE, fullback, or 13 personnel TE but he’s got the size and athletic ability for Kubiak to work with. Additionally, Runyon does have experience as a willing blocker and his film from Townson was impressive enough to the level that he can become a strong fullback option which Seattle did utilize in certain formations.

WR Shedrick Jackson

When you read this article you likely didn’t expect to read about Shedrick Jackson, or maybe you did and if so props to you. The nephew of Bo Jackson is an athletic freak, he’s 6’1/200 with a 4.24 40 including a reported hand timed 4.18 at his pro day by a few scouts. Jackson is a solid route runner, but nothing special but he does one thing well and that’s post, go, and fly concepts. The Seahawks utilized that system for Rashid Shaheed this off-season with his route tree comprising of 73.7% 8, 9, 0r 2 balls (post, go, slant) allowing him to utilize his speed which is something to watch with Jackson in 2026 under Kubiak. Jackson has a history of kick and punt returns at Auburn, never in game, but that’s something LV could tap into also as an explosive abilility on kick returns.