Ashton Jeanty likely has an ear-to-ear grin on his face.
The Las Vegas Raiders running back is mere days away from officially having Klint Kubiak as his head coach. And from what we saw when the Seattle Seahawks soared over the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX this past Sunday — and the 2025 season as a whole — good things are in store for the Silver & Black. As Kubiak’s impending arrival portends to a gritty ground game revival in the desert.
On the grandest stage of them all, Kubiak — Seattle’s offensive coordinator — called Kenneth Walker III’s number 31 times against a stingy New England defense. The fourth-year tailback produced with 135 yards on 27 carries (long of 30) and hauling in two passes thrown his way for 26 yards (long of 20). The 5-foot-9 and 211-pound Michigan State was asked to put the Seahawks offense on his back and the second-round pick (41st overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft answered with an emphatic: Hell Yeah.
Just like how his offensive coordinator answered when asked about his head coaching future and the words “Las Vegas” came out of Kubiak’s mouth after Seattle’s second franchise Super Bowl win:
Jeanty, the sixth-overall pick in the 2025 draft, has a similar build to Walker at 5-foot-8 and 208 pounds. The 22-year-old rushed for 975 yards and five touchdowns on 266 carries (3.7 yards per carry average) and added 55 receptions for 346 yards and five more touchdowns. While Jeanty may not be as fleet-footed in comparison to Walker (he clocked in a 4.38 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine, Jeanty didn’t run an official timed 40), he has similar vision, power, and contact balance.
Jeanty is also a more ample receiver out of the backfield showcasing the hands and ability to get open. All this makes for an upward trajectory in Year 2 for the young running back when Kubiak installs his scheme and system.
We can talk until we’re blue in the face on the potential production from Jeanty and young elite tight end Brock Bowers. But where the Raiders offense will begin and end — even with an offensive mind like Kubiak captaining the ship — with the offensive line. There’s talent on the roster to be coached up — properly — and reinforcements can be had in free agency in March and the 2026 draft in April. Las Vegas is neither hurting in cap space or draft capital, which is likely a selling point for Kubiak to become the team’s next head coach.
But the operation in the trenches must be on point. After all, Kubiak got to see up close the constant duress the Seahawks defense applied to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. The second-year quarterback got the yips by being subjected to an array of blitzes and straight-up one-on-one dominance by Seattle’s defense. Maybe was sacked six times and ended up throwing two interceptions alongside his two touchdown throws.
Time To Get Defensive
The offensive side of the ball in Las Vegas is in dire need of attention and that’s what Kubiak’s arrival signals towards. The incoming coach is the timely defibrillator to the a severely flatlined Silver & Black offense. But Sunday’s tilt between the Seahawks and Patriots showcased the importance of domineering defenses.
That’s part of Kubiak’s gargantuan task of turning around a franchise that has difficulty even reaching mediocre status.
Kubiak had a golden opportunity to see exactly how Seattle head coach and defensive play caller Mike Macdonald’s defense operates. It’s a defense that takes what it wants and can dial up the aggressiveness exponentially. As the 2025 campaign wore on, you saw glints. And in the postseason it was blindly bright. And in the Super Bowl, Macdonald unleashed his devious concoctions on the Patriots.
So alongside his choice of offensive line coach, whom Kubiak tabs to run his defense bears watching. And there’s a big piece of the Raiders defense that was recently under the microscope.
Kubiak’s offense wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Seattle visited the red zone (the space between the 20-yard line and end zone) four times against New England and only scored one touchdown. That meant Seahawks kicker Jason Myers getting the nod and the 11-year veteran drilled field goal after field goal going 5-for-5 (a long of 41 yards).
Whom Kubiak hires as his special teams coordinator will have say on the Raiders’ direction at the all-important kicker position. Daniel Carson, Las Vegas’ place kicker the past eight seasons, is an unrestricted free agent and had an off 2025 season going 22-of-27 (81.5 percent conversion rate) on field goals. The 31-year-old kicker has formed a formidable duo with punter AJ Cole III, but we’ll see if that combo continues on in 2026.
