Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak may be moving closer to Raiders job
RENTON, Wash. – The Seahawks’ odds of keeping offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak beyond this season appeared to get worse Thursday.
Several national outlets reported that Davis Webb, the passing-game coordinator for the Denver Broncos, was pulling out of consideration to become the new coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Kubiak has been viewed as one of the frontrunners for the Las Vegas job and Webb taking his name out of consideration led to speculation that the job might be Kubiak’s to turn down.
“All eyes on Klint Kubiak for the Raiders,” wrote Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Kubiak remains in the running for the other head coaching job that remains open, the Arizona Cardinals.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN noted that Kubiak is not the only one remaining in the hunt for the Raiders job, writing: “Eyes on Klint Kubiak for the Raiders job, but Panthers DC Ejiro Evero is still in the mix there. Some candidates have been eliminated but he has not. He conveyed detailed QB/offensive plan in in-person meeting with Raiders. Raiders regime and Evero have Denver ties.”
It has been reported that Kubiak will have second interviews with the Raiders and Cardinals on Saturday, before teams can no longer hold interviews with assistants working for Super Bowl participants.
Wrote Rapoport: “Before he heads to the Super Bowl, Klint Kubiak will have second interviews with the Raiders and Cardinals. With Webb out in Las Vegas, it’s likely that Kubiak will have the opportunity for one of the remaining (head coaching) jobs.”
Kubiak conducted virtual interviews with six teams, including the Raiders and Cardinals, during the bye week after the regular season.
He can meet in person for a second interview with teams he had earlier virtual interviews.
No contract or announcement can be completed until after the Super Bowl.
The Raiders are looking for a new head coach after firing former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll following a 3-14 season.
Arizona is looking for a new head coach after firing Jonathan Gannon after the Cardinals also went 3-14.
It’s thought Kubiak would prefer the Las Vegas job of the two that remain open, with one reason possibly being that the Raiders have the first pick in the draft and are widely expected to take Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza of Indiana.
The 38-year-old Kubiak has had a quick ascension this season up the list of head coaching candidates because of his work with the Seahawks building an offense around new quarterback Sam Darnold. Seattle set a franchise record for points scored with 483 and finished third in the NFL in averaging 28.4 per game.
Kubiak is the son of longtime NFL quarterback and coach Gary Kubiak, who led Denver to a Super Bowl win following the 2015 season with Peyton Manning at quarterback. Like his father, he runs an offense that incorporates a lot of aspects of the offense that Mike Shanahan made popular with the Denver Broncos in the 1990s that featured a wide zone running attack, a scheme that has also been used to great effect by Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
Kubiak was hired by the Seahawks in February to replace Ryan Grubb, who was fired by head coach Mike Macdonald after Seattle went 10-7 in Macdonald’s rookie year as head coach with the team struggling to establish a consistently effective running game. Macdonald also said he wanted to find an offensive coordinator with whom he felt better “alignment.”
He found that in Kubiak, who spent the 2024 season as the OC with the New Orleans Saints but was available after head coach Dennis Allen was fired during the season.
Kubiak has had five jobs in the last five years, also working as the offensive coordinator in Minnesota in 2021, the offensive passing game coordinator in Denver in 2022, offensive passing game specialist with the 49ers in 2023 and with the Saints before coming to Seattle.
That led to a hope that he might want to stay in one place for a while now that he has found success in Seattle.
But the lure of a head coaching job may prove too much.
Asked in November if he would like to be a head coach someday, Kubiak said: “I want to win with the Seahawks. I want to win a lot of games here, and all that stuff takes care of itself when you win. So that’s the best way to say that.”
Speaking to media before the divisional round playoff game against the 49ers, Kubiak said conducting interviews for head coaching jobs wasn’t a distraction.
“Had some conversations, and they were good conversations, very flattered for that opportunity,” Kubiak said. “But we’ve worked our entire season, our whole lives for games like this. This is the most important thing.”
Among those expected to be in the interviews with Kubiak for the Raiders is minority owner Tom Brady, the legendary quarterback who bought a share of the team in 2024..