Everyone Is Overlooking This About Klint Kubiak and the Raiders’ DC Move

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders football brain trust of Tom Brady and John Spytek identified their main target early to be the head coach of the Silver and Black in Klint Kubiak, and they stayed patient and committed to the process and landed him.

A discipline and approach not common in the Raider Nation as of late.

Las Vegas Raiders DC Rob Leonard | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

After the firing of Pete Carroll, requests to interview the Raiders' rising defensive star, Rob Leonard, poured in, but, as in 2025, the Raiders were not budging on letting him speak with other teams. They loved him.

What Kubiak Wanted

Kubiak has been waiting for the right opportunity to spread his wings as a head coach, and he determined the desert of Las Vegas is the place to do it. You were blunt in what he wanted in a defensive coordinator, and as an offensive savant, he knows that works and what doesn’t.

"Yeah, I'm in the weeds of it right now, man. So, we're identifying candidates and going to be contacting guys and bringing them in, but I think whoever that that coach is, it'll be really important that we establish a style of play, a physical style of play, and that's offense and defense. So, I'm just way more worried about how our guys play than opposed to the X's and O's of it all. That's part of our job as coaches is to scheme guys and help them be put in the best positions, but I want to make sure that we have a DC that is coaching effort first and technique and the guy that's going to rip into somebody if they're not finishing at practice, because that's what helps you win in February. It's not the X's and O's, they've got 17 games of tape on you. It's about how hard your guys play."

What Kubiak Got

Known as the rare coach who can have the “players' coach” label, but also a leader who is demanding and pushes his men extremely hard. He will be aggressive and always on the attack.

Leonard brings 16 years of coaching experience, and 13 of those are in the NFL. An out-of-the-box thinker, Leonard is an innovator.

Last year, the Raiders promoted him to run game coordinator after an outstanding 2024 season. The Raiders said of his 2024 campaign in part, “Despite injuries throughout the defensive line, the Raiders saw sack production in 2024 with 18 different players recording at least a half-sack, tied for the most in the NFL and the most players with at least a half-sack in Raiders history in a single season. Leonard saw DE Maxx Crosby earn his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl selection after finishing the season with 45 tackles, 17 tackles for loss (t-6th in NFL), 7.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hits and five passes defensed (t-5th among DL).”

A Big Mistake

Some are trying to equate this hire, disrespectfully, I may add, as the Raiders attempt to patch the relationship with superstar Maxx Crosby.

Leonard and Crosby are close, no doubt, but to equate this hire solely to that is disrespectful to Leonard and to the enormous body of work his resume shows off. Make no mistake, Leonard earnes this job by his body of work, not because of a friendship. Does it hurt? Of course not, but Leonard helped mold Crosby into who he is.

He will have a learning curve, as all first-time coordinators do. But Leonard is one of the sharpest defensive minds in the National Football League, and that is why nearly three weeks ago, we said he would be the best choice.

Credit Kubiak, Spytek, and Brady. Credit Rob Leonard for the hard work, but for once again, the Raider Nation made another exceptional hire in an offseason that has shown patience and poise, something Raider Nation is not used to.

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