The Seahawks apparently have a job to do past their Super Bowl next weekend.
Klint Kubiak looks to be one and done as Seattle’s offensive coordinator.
The Las Vegas Raiders “are zeroing in” Kubiak, 38, to be their next head coach. That’s according to reports Sunday morning, first by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport.
By NFL rules the hiring cannot become official until Feb. 9, the day after the Seahawks play in the Super Bowl.
Raiders owner Mark Davis reportedly met with Kubiak Friday night over dinner at a restaurant in Bellevue, and again Saturday in the Seattle area. The Arizona Cardinals also interviewed Kubiak Saturday for their head-coaching position.
The Seahawks practiced Friday and Saturday at their team headquarters in Renton. The team was leaving Sunday afternoon to fly to San Jose, California. That’s where they will practice and stay until they play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 next Sunday in nearby Santa Clara.
Kubiak has said this month as he began interviews by six other teams for head-coaching jobs he has not been distracted from his current job: Winning the second Super Bowl for the second time in the Seahawks’ 50-year history. “Had some conversations, and they were good conversations. Very flattered for that opportunity,” Kubiak said early last month.
“But we’ve worked our entire season, our whole lives for games like this. This is the most important thing.”
Kubiak has been the play caller for the Seahawks’ offense that set a team record for points this regular season while running 50% of the time, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba an All-Pro leading the league with 1,793 yards receiving and quarterback Sam Darnold making the Pro Bowl.
Kubiak will be replacing Pete Carroll. The Raiders fired the former Seahawks coach soon after Las Vegas’ 3-14 season. Kubiak will be walking into owning the number one-overall pick in the draft this spring, having Tom Brady as a co-owner, plus $89 million in salary-cap space to spend for 2026. That’s the second-highest amount of buying power in the league for next season.
Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak looks on before the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Houston Texans at Lumen Field, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, in Seattle. Brian Hayes [email protected]
This means Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider are on their way to finding and hiring a third offensive coordinator in Macdonald’s three years as Seattle’s coach. There’s a possibility the Seahawks will be needing more than a new offensive coordinator for next season. Kubiak could take Seattle assistant coaches with him onto his new staff with the Raiders.
One candidate to do that could be veteran offensive line coach John Benton, who’s been huge in transforming Seattle’s line and offense with Kubiak this season. Benton and Kubiak worked in their same jobs with New Orleans in 2024 before coming to Seattle together last offseason.
The Seahawks’ offensive linemen have been universal in their praise of Benton during this season for his clarity in teaching and designing their blocking schemes.
Macdonald said last month the possibility of another team hiring Kubiak for a head-coaching job was “bittersweet,” but he supported all his assistants ascending in their careers.
“I think part of our vision of what we want to create here is a team where coaches want to work, and they can feel like they are getting developed, too, and they are getting opportunities,” Macdonald said last month. “And so, if we are doing what we are supposed to on the field, those opportunities are going to come.
“It’s great that some of those are happening. We are cheering those guys on.”
Kubiak was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints for the 2024, before the Seahawks hired him 12 months ago to replace Ryan Grubb. Grubb, the former University of Washington play caller, lasted one, non-playoff season as Seattle’s OC in Macdonald’s rookie coaching season.
Kubiak has not been in one job for more than two years since 2018, when he ended a three-year stint as an offensive assistant for the Denver Broncos. He said he’s been preparing in the back of his mind for the potential of this opportunity.
“Yeah, in this profession, those are things that you’re always kind of thinking about in the summers, in your off time, so that when those times come, then you’re ready to roll,” Kubiak said.
“But (the) main thing is just being yourself.”
Seattle Seahawks Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak runs off the field before the NFC Divisional Round game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lumen Field, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Seattle. Brian Hayes [email protected]
This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 10:52 AM.
Gregg Bell
The News Tribune
Gregg Bell is the Seahawks and NFL writer for The News Tribune. He is a two-time Washington state sportswriter of the year, voted by the National Sports Media Association in January 2023 and January 2019. He started covering the NFL in 2002 as the Oakland Raiders beat writer for The Sacramento Bee. The Ohio native began covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season of 2005. In a prior life he graduated from West Point and served as a tactical intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, so he may ask you to drop and give him 10.
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