As expected, the Las Vegas Raiders have hit a bit of a rough patch putting their coaching staff together under Klint Kubiak. This is due to no fault of Kubiak, but the Raiders are starting so late in the process that most other teams already have their staffs finalized. Las Vegas is scrambling a bit.
That doesn't mean that there aren't good candidates still out there, and it doesn't mean that the Silver and Black won't get anyone good. The sky is not falling. But this is a unique challenge for a Raiders team that was patient enough to wait for their top choice at head coach.
After interviewing Seattle Seahawks wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson for the offensive coordinator job and both Rob Leonard, an in-house candidate, and Aubrey Pleasant, a young stud from the Los Angeles Rams, for the defensive coordinator job, the Raiders started striking out.
Not only did Karl Scott, a presumed favorite for the DC gig, choose to stay in Seattle, but the Seahawks blocked Justin Outten as an OC candidate. Then Zach Orr chose to take an inside linebackers coach job with Seattle instead of taking the Raiders' DC interview.
Ashton Grant, the New England Patriots' quarterbacks coach, also chose to stay with his team instead of interviewing for Las Vegas' OC job. But the Raiders did set up another DC interview on Saturday with Seahawks safeties coach Jeff Howard, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
Raiders to interview Seahawks safeties coach Jeff Howard for DC job
Howard played before he was a coach, as he spent four years at Division II Eastern New Mexico, where he was an All-American linebacker. He spent several years at the high school coaching level before somehow jumping on both the offensive and defensive staff at Texas Tech.
There, he learned under Tommy Tuberville before initially hopping on the Minnesota Vikings' staff under Leslie Frazier as a defensive assistant. He lasted for seven seasons. This was his first crossing of paths with Klint Kubiak, who was the offensive quality control coach at the time in Minnesota.
Also on that staff was Kevin Stefanski, now the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and Joe Woods, who served as the Raiders' defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator in 2025. Woods also worked with Kubiak on the New Orleans Saints, so these three have some familiarity.
After Frazier was fired, Howard was retained by Mike Zimmer. Howard then got the chance to work alongside Jonathan Gannon, former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He also crossed paths with familiar coaches like Scott Turner, Todd Downing, and Bill Musgrave.
In 2019, Gary Kubiak joined the Vikings' staff, as did Rick Dennison, who was with Seattle this past season as well. When Stefanski took the Browns' head coaching gig in 2020, he brought Howard with him as a defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for three seasons.
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Woods was the defensive coordinator under Stefanski for those three years, and in addition to Howard, now-Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, former Raiders head coach Bill Callahan, and former Raiders defensive coordinator Jason Tarver were on the staff.
Brandon Staley hired Howard to be the linebackers coach for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023, but that season went haywire. Howard then landed with Seattle under head coach Mike Macdonald in 2024, and in 2025, he was back on the same staff as Klint Kubiak.
All told, Kubiak and Howard have spent four seasons coaching together at two different stops. A comfort level must exist between the two if Kubiak is considering Howard for a defensive coordinator gig.
Howard has never called plays before, at least not at the college or professional level, but he has 13 years of NFL coaching experience. Plus, he may give Las Vegas an inside track on landing Seahawks safety Coby Bryant, who should be a priority this offseason in free agency.
An interview is just an interview, and based on how long the Raiders took to find their head coach, they'll likely have just as thorough a process finding their coordinators and filling out their staffs. But Howard will get to make his case to the Silver and Black's brass on Saturday.