The Klint Kubiak era is underway for the Las Vegas Raiders, as they were able to scoop up one of the best offensive coordinators available this past offseason. Having moved on from Pete Carroll just as quickly as they added him, the Raiders will task Kubiak to return to relevancy—an uphill battle this franchise has faced for over 10 years.
Kubiak joins the Raiders after engineering a Super Bowl-winning offense with the Seattle Seahawks, where Jaxon Smith-Njigba grew into one of the league’s best. With the Raiders having quite a barren cupboard in terms of offensive skill players, the 2026 NFL season will likely be a struggle for Kubiak as he looks to rebuild this team.
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Las Vegas Raiders
2026 Coaching Staff: HC Klint Kubiak, OC Andrew Janocko, DC Rob Leonard
2025 Staff: HC Pete Carroll, OC Chip Kelly / Greg Olson, DC Patrick Graham
A 3-14 season cut Carroll’s tenure as head coach short after just one season, as the long-time NFL coach has likely seen his last HC opportunity. With Chip Kelly and Greg Olson helping run the offense into the ground, Ashton Jeanty’s rookie campaign was the only semi-bright spot in a disastrous season.
Jeanty and Brock Bowers are the two players that truly made impacts offensively last year, as these two core pieces of the offense will be counted on heavily again this season. Giving rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza a few weapons that he can count on will absolutely make his acclimation process easier, as will having Kirk Cousins likely start a few games to open the year.
Major Fantasy Implications
| Las Vegas Raiders | Fantasy Football Outlook |
| Offensive Philosophy | Balanced offensive attack with an outside zone run scheme |
| Biggest Winner | Brock Bowers |
| Sneaky Winner | Michael Mayer |
| Biggest Question | Who becomes the 2nd target after Bowers? |
| Dynasty Watch | When Mendoza is handed the QB1 keys |
Coach Background
Kubiak is a beneficiary of the Shanahan system, while also integrating the outside zone run scheme into his offensive playbook, with his father (Gary) being one of the founders. Having those elements in his offensive scheme makes Kubiak very tough to stop, especially with how modern his play calling is.
Having held various offensive staff roles in the NFL dating back to 2013, Kubiak parlayed successful runs as offensive coordinator with the Saints and Seahawks into his first head-coaching gig with the Raiders. While there are plenty of holes in this Raiders offense that make them a below-average unit, assets in this offense will make for excellent buy-low options later on in drafts or from your waiver wires.
New Offensive Scheme
Kubiak ran one of the most balanced offenses in the league last year, with Seattle calling passing plays on 51.4 percent and running plays on 48.6 percent of all offensive snaps in 2025. The Seahawks led the NFL in running plays last year too, and while negative game script likely won’t allow the Raiders to do that in 2026, expect them to have a higher run-call percentage than expected.
Passing Game Impact
Play-action passing will be the best friend of Kirk Cousins and Mendoza, as Kubiak’s goal is to force defenses into heavier-personnel formations to put his faster offensive weapons in plus matchups. With both quarterbacks (especially Cousins) having plenty of experience under center, Kubiak should have no problem incorporating this style of passing plays into the offense.
Kubiak’s uber reliance on Jaxon Smith-Njigba certainly made the most sense with how the rest of the passing attack was built out in Seattle, but no wideout even sniffs the same echelon that Jaxon Smith-Njigba is in. Instead, Bowers will be Kubiak’s chess piece moving forward, and even though he is a tight end, that will only make Kubiak more creative when it comes to moving him around the formation.
Expect Bowers to line up all over, maximizing matchups in heavier personnel groupings while getting him to stand up more and not have his hand in the dirt as much. However, with this comes an increased usage for TE2, Michael Mayer, which could make both TEs weekly options (albeit with Mayer being very volatile).
The league average for 22 personnel (2 RBs, 2 TEs, 1 WR) was under three percent last year, while the 2025 Seattle offense utilized this formation fourth-most at (6.8% / 69 plays) last year. A small sample size, but one that does show that Kubiak has plays built into his playbook to maximize tight end talent, something that would actually put two of the better offensive skill players on the field for the Raiders.
Running Game Impact
In 2025, Kenneth Walker III averaged 5.02 yards per carry on zone runs for Seattle, with 57 percent (126) of his 221 total carries coming on these types of run plays. While the Seahawks did have a better offensive line than the Raiders last year, it does paint a clear picture as to the expectations for Jeanty in his first season under Kubiak.
While Jeanty earned 168 carries on zone runs last year, there may be some growing pains on these plays, as Kubiak will likely ask for better execution and more pinpoint cuts from the second-year pro. Not only will the running backs need to better understand the new system, but the offensive line will also have more asked of it. With Jackson Powers-Johnson leading this revamped unit, look for him and left tackle Kolton Miller to anchor a unit that will need to make do with what they have in order to get to the boundary and set the edge on the hash marks, instead of going directly downhill.
Lateral movement is the bread and butter of this scheme from the offensive line side of things, as they have to create either an edge or cut-back lane for the back. These runs typically come out of heavier personnel groupings, so the 11, 12 & 13-personnel formations (1 RB, 1/2/3 TEs, 3/2/1 WRs) will be heavily relied on by Kubiak. In 2025, the Seahawks heavily showcased these three personnel groupings, with 11 and 12-personnel being the most used. That will also mean that receivers like Jack Bech will be counted on in the run game as well. Bech’s success run blocking would absolutely parlay into more snaps in passing situations.
Fantasy Storylines To Follow
Brock Bowers
You can almost certainly pencil Bowers in for a monster workload in 2026 as he enters his third year in the NFL. Having struggled with injuries last year after finishing at the overall TE1 as a rookie, Bowers should easily see 130+ targets on his way to being the top pass catcher for the Raiders.
- Even in five fewer games, Bowers still finished as the TE11 last year, scoring two more touchdowns than 2024.
- Bowers also averaged a higher yards per target (7.91 vs 7.8) than his rookie campaign, racking up 176.2 PPR points last year.
Ashton Jeanty
As is the case with Bowers, Jeanty is in line for a gigantic workload in 2026, putting him in the first-round conversation in redraft formats. While his rookie season (RB11) was super effective (as he was the real-life version of the Bugatti parked alongside the trailer-park home), that should be considered his floor in 2026, as Jeanty will be afforded every opportunity to lead the backfield.
- Jeanty’s expected fantasy points (xFP) of 262.6 put him at RB7, but his RB11 finish (based off actual fantasy points) shows that he is in line for a jump in production in 2026.
- The run-heavy approach from McDonald and offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko obviously plays in Jeanty’s favor, and that trend should continue even through negative game script scenarios (which should be aplenty).
Jalen Nailor
Choosing between Jalen Nailor and Michael Mayer for this last spot was tough, as both project to fill important roles on McDonald’s offense this season. For Nailor, he was handed a three-year deal this offseason with considerable money attached to it, so he isn’t being looked at as just a spot filler. While making the jump from WR3 for the Minnesota Vikings to the best WR on the Raiders roster is huge, Nailor is in line for a serious jump in targets and overall workload, and what it would take to acquire him makes him a screaming buy.
- Nailor had a higher catch rate (58%) and more touchdowns (4 vs 3) than Jordan Addison last year, and led all Minnesota receivers in yards per target (8.88) and yards per reception (15.31).
- Additionally, Nailor had a healthy 22.1% first-read percentage in 2025, as well as an 81.4 QB rating when targeted on passes, showcasing that while he was a secondary target, he made it count when he received opportunities.
Biggest 2026 Takeaways
- The Raiders offense is shaping up to be one of my favorite sleeper units of the entire league in 2026; while Bowers and Jeanty will have plenty of publicity, game script will force them into a ton of passing work, which should boost the secondary pieces as well.
- Bowers is in line to be Kubiak’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, so expect the Georgia tight end to be spread out across different formations, lining up in line, with his hand in the dirt, and split out wide to maximize matchups.
- Jeanty is going to be fed a ton, but rookie Mike Washington was drafted for a reason; Kubiak’s incessant reliance on Zach Charbonnet cratered some of Kenneth Walker III’s workload, so while this won’t be that same kind of split, there probably will be enough moments of frustration this year.
- Whenever Mendoza sees the field for the first time in his rookie campaign, don’t expect things to go perfectly; while Mendoza is well built to be the guy of the present and future for this franchise, their lack of talent at wide receiver will stunt some of his rookie-season success.
- Mayer, Nailor, and Tre Tucker will absolutely have roles in this offense, as Kubiak will need to have a few guys step up on the depth chart; but don’t be surprised if Bech takes a step forward too, as Kubiak will likely look to utilize him in better ways than his rookie season (including blocking in the run game, which will help him earn snaps).
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