Sin City Raiders

Remember Josh McDaniels and Jimmy Garoppolo, Antonio Pierce and Gardner Minshew, and Pete Carroll and Geno Smith? Now that you’re done laughing, crying, punhcing the air and accusing me of rage-baiting, please continue.

For the fourth time in four years, the Las Vegas Raiders will have both a new head coach and starting quarterback. And while we are two months away from the 2026 NFL Draft, all signs are pointing to Fernando Mendoza being the Raiders’ choice with the first overall pick. And for the Silver and Black, the pairing of Mendoza, the consensus QB1 in this draft class, with their new head coach Klint Kubiak, the brightest, young offensive mind available this winter, has been a long time coming.

The Raiders were once called “The Team of The Decades”; having appeared in Super Bowls in four different decades. But to say that the 2020s have been an unstable time for the franchise would be an understatement. We’re only half-way through this decade, but so far it has been a bitter cocktail of old emails causing a coach to resign, first-round picks who are no longer in the NFL, a quarterback who manned his position since 2014 being shown the door by a coach who would be fired after just 25 games, and an offensive line coach being hired based on nepotism rather than qualifications. And that is just to name a few problems the Raiders have had since 2020.

Perhaps the greatest problem for the Raiders has been their lack of stability at head coach and quarterback. Mark Davis and his braintrust, which added Tom Brady in October 2024, have had a hard time getting “their guys” since the team moved to Sin City.

Before Brady came along, Davis gave Jon Gruden a rumored-to-be $100,000,000 contract for 10 years which gave Gruden final say on roster decisions. General Manager Mike Mayock was basically a glorified scout. Davis has spoken on how Gruden’s abrupt mid-season resignation shook up the organization and forced Davis and his braintrust back to the drawing board.

That 2021 Raider team showed trmendous resilency as they endured the Gruden resignation and the Henry Ruggs tragedy and still managed their way into the playoffs. At the end, Mark Davis did what is typically done to interim coaches. Davis made the decision to thank Rich Bisaccia for his services, and hire Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler in an attempt to build Patriots West. The thing that Davis, Ziegler and McDaniels did not consider is that without Tom Brady at quarterback, you can’t build Patriots West. And they must have thought that if they can’t have Brady himself, then his former backup was the next best thing and they replaced Derek Carr with Jimmy Garoppolo. After only 25 games of Patriots West, Davis canned both Ziegler and McDaniels, and benched Jimmy G for rookie Aidan O’Connell.

To the surprise of many, the Raiders finished 2023 strong as they went 5-4 during the nine games led by Antonio Pierce and A.O.C. This time around, Davis made the decision to stick with the popular interim coach rather than go for the big name on the coaching market, which was Jim Harbaugh. Perhaps Davis was haunted by his decision to go with McDaniels over Bisaccia two years earlier. The 2023 interim coach Antonio Pierce would be the head coach going into 2024. But the question did remain, who would be the starting quarterback? Upon taking the reigns from McDaniels, A.P. did call O’Connell his “BFF”, but then the Raiders signed Gardner Minshew to come in and compete.

The 2024 NFL Draft was an opportunity for the Raiders to get their guy. A.P. had connections to Jayden Daniels going back to their time at Arizona State. However, 12 teams stood in front of the Raiders, who had the 13th pick. After months of rumors that the Raiders wanted to move up, they ultimately stood pat. And the names were called. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix were all gone. The Raiders would go into 2024 with Minshew and O’Connell. The two quarterbacks would rotate due to injuries and mediocre play over the course of the season, and A.P. led the Silver and Black to fewer victories in a full season than he had the year before in half the games. From 5-4 to close 2023, to 4-12 in 2024, and for the Raiders, a new coach and QB in 2025.

The 2025 search felt different. This time, Tom Brady would work with Mark Davis. Brady brought with him his own status as a 7-time Super Bowl champion and a team of deep-pocketed investors who pumped the franchise full of cash. The Raiders were linked to Ben Johnson, who had built one of the league’s best offenses in Detroit. Brady and Johnson had gotten to know each other from Brady’s work on Fox, calling Lions games. It felt like the stars were algined for the Raiders to hire the most exciting, young, offensive mind in the game. However, the months of hype and rumors did not lead to reality. Johnson decided to accept the job with the Chicago Bears, perhaps more enticed by their young quarterback Caleb Williams than inheriting the mess that the Raiders had at football’s most important position.

The Silver and Black would go into 2025 with the duo of Pete Carroll and Geno Smith. Pete had his guy Geno from their time together in Seattle, but was Pete the Raiders’ guy?

After missing out on Ben Johnson, it was unclear who Brqady and Davis would look to next. Also, Brady and Davis were looking to fill their general manager vacancy. In an odd move, the Raiders hired John Spytek as G.M. and followed that up just a few days later by announcing the Carroll hire. Metaphorically speaking, the G.M. was still finding his way around the team’s facility when the team decided on their head coach. Spytek and Carroll did not appear on the same page as the new G.M. spoke about the need to build through the draft, while the new coach spoke about being ready to win now. As 2025 would have it, it was Spytek who was right about this football team, not Carroll. And 2026 will bring yet another change.

Once again, the hype and rumors began to build months in advance that in Brady’s work with Fox, he was getting to know Seattle Seawhawks’ offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. It felt as if the beat writers took all their year-old Ben Johnson stories and just changed the name from Johnson to Kubiak. Again, it was the league’s most exciting young, offensive mind who would surely be in-demand in the winter.

But this time, the hype paid off. While being interviewed in the sea of confetti at Levi’s Stadium, the Super Bowl champion Klint Kubiak declared “hell yeah I’m going” just in case there was any doubt. Brady and Davis got their guy and Klint Kubiak is coming to Las Vegas. Also,this time there will be nobody ahead of the Raiders in the NFL Draft. Now, Kubiak can go get his guy.

For any team that has been at the bottom of the league, finding stability is the first step on the way back to relevance. Finding the right coach and quarterback are absolutely essential to any franchise. And finally, at long last, it appears the Raiders have found their guys.