Raiders Finalize Coaching Staff Under Klint Kubiak
The Raiders announced their finalized coaching staff today, the first under new head coach Klint Kubiak. Several of the new hires in Las Vegas have already been covered in previous posts, but today’s announcement did provide some new information. 
Before we get into what was in the coaching staff announcement, let’s briefly touch on what wasn’t. Many in the media were shocked to see that the Raiders had not employed the services of a quarterbacks coach on Kubiak’s first staff, especially since the consensus points to Vegas taking Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and the rookie may need a coach.
According to Vincent Bonsignore of the California Post, the team did look at candidates for the QB coach position but opted not to force a hire that didn’t feel right. Bonsignore suggested that the team would wait and revisit the position again next offseason, but Kubiak, offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko, and assistant head coach Mike McCoy have all held the title of quarterbacks coach in the past, so they may be well set up to work without an official one.
Moving on to the other new information for the offensive staff, Luke Steckel has once again been retained as the team’s tight ends coach for the 2026 season. A long-time Titans assistant from 2013-22, Steckel arrived in Las Vegas in 2024 as part of Antonio Pierce‘s staff and was retained on the staff under new head coach Pete Carroll last year. He’ll now coach tight ends for the Raiders under his third head coach.
For new hires on offense, Ben Wilkerson has been named assistant offensive line coach, Pete Collins and Conner McQueen have been named offensive quality control, and Tim Zetts has been named an offensive assistant. Wilkerson has made the rounds as an NFL assistant offensive line coach. After stints with the Bears, both New York teams, and the Browns, Wilkerson makes it out to Las Vegas. McQueen is making his NFL coaching debut after eight years of experience at the collegiate level. Zetts is an interesting name here. An offensive assistant on Pierce’s staff two years ago, Zetts returns on Kubiak’s staff in the same role after not working with the team last year.
On the defensive side of the ball, there were two updates to major positions. First, Matt Robinson‘s new role in Las Vegas, originally reported to be secondary coach, was clarified in the announcement. He will more specifically be the safeties coach. The other update saw assistant defensive line coach Kenyon Jackson retained in the same role. Jackson filled the position for Las Vegas last year, coming over from a similar role he had held in Houston.
The team’s defense is employing all new hires at the quality control and assistant level. Drew Gaither, Cody Grimm, and Ketner Kupp were all named defensive quality control, and Steve Ferentz was hired as a defensive assistant. Grimm is maybe the most notable name there. He was a safeties coach for the Jaguars in 2023 but hasn’t appeared on an NFL staff since. Ferentz also held a prior job as the Dolphins assistant linebackers coach back in 2022.
Outside of that, Matt Capurro has been retained as the team’s senior vice president of coaching operations. Capurro found his way to Vegas last year, following Carroll from Seattle. Capurro had been on staff with Carroll on the Seahawks for 15 years, but he’ll remain on staff for his first new head coach since then. Lastly, Tim McConnell was hired as the team’s new assistant special teams coach. McConnell makes his way to the NFL after working specials teams positions at the collegiate level at schools like North Texas and South Carolina.
This will be the crew, along with the formerly touched on new hires and promotions, to build up the new Raiders program. The Kubiak-era’s first big tests will come when free agency and the draft arrive, and he now has the staff of coaches with whom he will face those tests.
Raiders Finalize 2025 Coaching Staff
The Raiders reeled in the short leash allowed to interim head coach turned official head coach Antonio Pierce after only one season and have turned to former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to right the ship in Las Vegas. Two and a half weeks after the hiring of the veteran head coach, the Raiders have finalized the coaching staff they will carry into the 2025 NFL season. Though we were already aware of many of these signings, there were some breaking updates, as well. 
For instance, we were already aware of the hiring of offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, wide receivers coach Chris Beatty, and run game coordinator/offensive line coach (and son of the head coach) Brennan Carroll.
To fill out the position coaches, we learned that tight ends coach Luke Steckel would be retained from the previous staff and that Deland McCullough has been hired as running backs coach. A longtime assistant with the Titans, Steckel has worked with multiple positions, though tight ends coach has been his only title lacking the word “assistant.” Last season was his first in role for the Raiders, and the result was tight end Brock Bowers setting NFL records for receptions in a rookie season (112) and receiving yards in a rookie season by a tight end (1,194). McCullough returns to the NFL after time with Indiana and Notre Dame. He previously coached running backs in Kansas City from 2018-20.
All of the assistant hirings were new information. Nate Carroll, the younger of the head coach’s two sons on staff, will join as assistant quarterbacks coach after not being retained as passing game coordinator in Carolina. After getting fired as offensive line coach of the Browns, Andy Dickerson will serve as assistant offensive line coach in Vegas. Former Patriots tight ends coach Bob Bicknell will join as a senior offensive assistant after not being retained in New England. Joining him as a senior offensive assistant will be Joe Philbin, who was retained after serving as the team’s interim offensive line coach last year. New offensive assistant Sean Binckes will be making his NFL coaching debut after two years as an offensive graduate assistant at Ohio State. Lastly, former Seahawks offensive lineman Kyle Fuller will join Carroll’s staff as an offensive quality control coach.
On defense, we were already aware of the retention of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, as well as the retention and added title of run game coordinator/defensive line coach Rob Leonard and the hiring of linebackers coach John Glenn. We also were made aware of the hiring of Joe Woods as defensive pass game coordinator, but now we see defensive backs have been added to his title, as well. This is not to be confused with the hiring of new defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson, who has held the same role in the past with the Raiders (2015-16), Broncos (2017-18), Cardinals (2019-22), and Saints (2023-24).
All of the assistants on defense were breaking reports, as well. Assisting Leonard on the defensive line will be Kenyon Jackson, who served in the same assistant defensive line position for the Texans last year. Ty McKenzie has been hired as defensive assistant/linebackers coach. McKenzie was an inside linebackers coach for the Titans (2018-19), a linebackers coach for the Lions (2020), and an outside linebackers coach for the Dolphins (2022) in the past but spent last year as a defensive analyst at the University of North Carolina. New defensive assistant Rip Rowan will be making his NFL coaching debut after spending the last three seasons as defensive line coach at Georgia Southern. Lastly, Beyah Rasool will be the team’s new defensive quality control coach, making his NFL coaching debut after time with multiple universities including, most recently, Florida.
On special teams, we already were aware that veteran special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was being retained, and now we know that both special teams assistant Derius Swinton II and quality control/special teams coach Kade Rannings have been retained in their same roles, as well. Additionally, we knew that former Seattle vice president of coaching operations Matt Capurro would be reuniting with Carroll, but we didn’t know in what capacity. We now know he’ll hold a very similar role as senior vice president of coaching operations in Las Vegas.
There we have it: the 2025 Raiders coaching staff. The top-10 scoring defense retains its leader, albeit with a bit of a different supporting cast, while the offense has been completely revamped, aside from the mentor of the phenom tight end. We’ve seen Carroll build a team into a winner in Seattle, and now we’ll see if he can do the same with a team that has the second-worst cumulative record (119-205) over the last 20 years.