Seahawks’ OC Kubiak Not Interested in Head Coaching Opportunity, Per Source

The Klint Kubiak saga roars on, with enough twists and turns to mildly satisfy M. Night Shyamalan.

Yesterday afternoon, amid reports of Kubiak having second interviews scheduled with the Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, Tony Pauline of Essentially Sports passed along an encouraging (for Seahawks fans) update. Supposedly, Kubiak would prefer remaining in Seattle as offensive coordinator to becoming head coach for the Cardinals.

Ryan McFadden of ESPN echoed the sentiment last night, stating that Kubiak would either take the Raiders head coaching job or remain with the Seahawks. According to him, the second interview Kubiak is having with them today is more of an opportunity for them to ‘state their case’ and convince him to choose them.

If true, this would essentially reduce the equation down to one, as there are no other teams who lack head coaches in the NFL right now. Certainly better odds than if there are two teams that want him. So although this report does imply that Kubiak wants the Raiders job, I would take this as good news for the time being.

Kubiak’s lack of desire for the Cardinals job makes sense. Arizona is in a very difficult situation right now. They’re currently projected to have a slightly above average amount of cap space for 2026, lack the draft capital to acquire a new quarterback, and remain somewhat married to Kyler Murray’s massive contract that sticks them with a $50 million bill whether he’s there or not.

They’ve got a few blue chippers on offense, like Paris Johnson Jr, Marvin Harrison Jr, and Trey McBride, but there’s very little to get excited about on defense. Questions about ownership abound. Their last coach, Jonathan Gannon, was given three years and never had the opportunity to pick his own quarterback before getting canned. And they play in the NFC West.

Perhaps the Cardinals can convince him to see things differently today, but short of that, it’s looking like Raiders or bust. Las Vegas can offer far more cap space, draft capital, and the promise of a young franchise quarterback in the soon-to-be drafted Fernando Mendoza (although I have questions about his fit in a Kubiak offense).

So at this point, it’s pretty simple. As long as Klint Kubiak impresses the Raiders today, and Kubiak remains satisfied with the situation he’s being offered with them, the job is almost certainly his. I would speculate that if we get to Monday afternoon without any relevant news, it’s a done deal and they’re just waiting for the day after the Super Bowl.

For him to stay with the Seahawks, either Kubiak has to do something in the interview to deter the Raiders away, or the Raiders have to do something to deter Kubiak away. It’s not out of the question, and we’ve seen seemingly-inevitable coaching hires get derailed at the last second. Just days ago, Mike LaFleur seemed like a done deal in Arizona.

If either of these things happen, I would expect either an announcement from the Raiders that they’ve hired someone else (Ejiro Evero, DC of the Panthers is apparently a backup plan for them) or a report that Kubiak has withdrawn from the job. Either way, these things typically happen fast, so I’d imagine we learn this tomorrow or Monday.

Given how good Kubiak has been in 2025, I suppose the right way to look at things is that we should be grateful that there’s even a chance that the Seahawks can keep him. With the Cardinals possibly out of the picture, the team has a fighting chance, and that’s all you can ask for. It shows on some level that Kubiak is willing to be somewhat choosy with his chance.

But give it some time, and there will probably be another twist in this story.

If the Seahawks can survive the Raiders quest to hire Klint Kubiak, he's all theirs for 2026. — New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak reacts against the Carolina Panthers. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

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