All 10 NFL head coaching spots are now filled as the calendar turns to February. The Las Vegas Raiders cannot make a deal with him official until after the Super Bowl. However, all indications are that Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak will be the new head man in Sin City.
Barring a snag in the deal, this means that the entire AFC West will be driven by offensive-minded head coaches. The Raiders went one-and-done with the defensive-centric Pete Carroll at head coach in 2025. After many different names have held the role of Raiders head coach over the last decade, Kubiak will get his first shot as an NFL head coach with Las Vegas.
Kubiak has been in many different places and roles across the NFL over the last five seasons. As for his upcoming start with the Raiders, he will inherit the number one overall pick, plenty of salary cap space, and young weapons in Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty.
The offensive arms race inside AFC West
It is a time in the NFL where defense truly dominated across the league in 2025. New wrinkles, designs, and philosophies have led to a point where offenses have needed to adjust. Which teams choose the best course of action can help swing the pendulum in the opposite direction in the cyclical NFL.
For Kubiak, he will be going up against some of the league’s most established offensive minds after joining the division. At head coach, Andy Reid and Sean Payton have been known for years for their offensive infrastructure and play-calling. Jim Harbaugh is known more as a CEO-type head coach nowadays, though he played quarterback and has been recognized for his unique tactics of pumping up his passers before kickoff.
It is not just the offensive-minded head coaches in the AFC West opposite of Kubiak, either. All of the Chiefs, Broncos, and Chargers will have new offensive coordinators in 2026. Eric Bieniemy is back for another stint in Kansas City. Mike McDaniel goes to the Bolts after his tenure as Miami Dolphins head coach. Denver just fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after losing the AFC Championship. Perhaps Davis Webb gets elevated to a new in-house role.
Not the first Kubiak that the Chiefs, rivals have dealt with
Obviously, Klint is not the first Kubiak to get a head coaching shot in the AFC West division. His father, Gary, was the Houston Texans head coach for eight seasons from 2006 to 2013. Eventually, Gary made his last head coaching stop with the Denver Broncos. Denver had tremendous regular-season success during the early years with Peyton Manning, but by failing to get over the hump in the postseason, they turned to Gary Kubiak.
Kubiak took the Broncos to the Super Bowl in his first season as Denver's head coach in 2015, where they won Super Bowl 50 over the Carolina Panthers.
Now in Las Vegas, Klint Kubiak is hoping to turn around an AFC West squad as quickly as his father did in Denver. The Raiders have long been one of the most miserable franchises in the NFL. Since losing Super Bowl XXXVII after the 2002 regular season, they have made the playoffs only twice in the last 23 years. Only the Dolphins currently have a longer stretch without a playoff win in the entire league.
With the expectation that they will draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza at number one overall, the Raiders are hoping that this new offensive mind will finally turn their fortunes around.