With the change from Pete Carroll and his coaching staff to Klint Kubiak and his, a lot of the Las Vegas Raiders' players will naturally, and practically automatically, benefit. Some will stand out that way more than others, especially on the offensive side of the ball with Kubiak as the play caller.
Actually, an argument can be made that all 53 players (or 91 on the roster during the offseason) will benefit from a new coaching staff in Las Vegas. If not based on actual coaching acumen, then from the general vibe that is being laid down.
Kubiak and his offensive staff are surely in the midst of an ongoing deep dive into all the reasons for last year's failures. The configuration of the offensive line and the deployment of skill position players are probably the core parts of that evaluation, and the things that need to be fixed the most.
Everything else will pretty much fall into place if those areas are optimized.
Ranking of Raiders' position group foreshadows how Klint Kubiak will succeed where others failed
In his ranking of the league's top-five tight end groups, NFL.com's Bucky Brooks has the Raiders at No. 3. Brock Bowers is obviously one of the best tight ends in the league and a unique talent, but the core reasoning for the high spot in Brooks' ranking actually lies elsewhere.
"It's rare for a play-calling savant to inherit a 'football robot from heaven' in their first head-coaching job, but that's exactly what the Raiders have provided Klint Kubiak, based on the way he recently described Pro Bowl tight end Brock Bowers," Brooks began. "The 2024 first-round pick can align anywhere on the field as a Flex tight end, from out wide to the slot. And his game is perfectly complemented by trusty sidekick Michael Mayer, who also displays TE1 skills and excels at playing attached to the hip of the offensive tackle. The dynamic duo is tailor-made to thrive in a multiple-tight-end offensive scheme, giving Kubiak a chance to build the passing game from the inside out, with the QB targeting these big-bodied pass-catchers (Bowers checks in at (6-4, 235 pounds, and Mayer at 6-4, 256) between the hashes."
After sharing the career numbers for Bowers and Mayer, Brooks delivered the bottom line for why he ranked the Raiders' tight end duo so high.
"The Raiders have the potential to unleash a truly dominant 12 personnel grouping that serves as a real headache-maker for defensive coordinators around the league."Â
Former Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly clearly saw Mayer's value, laying the groundwork for Las Vegas using "12" personnel at the fourth-highest rate in the league last season (33.97 percent, according to Sumer Sports).
The Seattle Seahawks, where Kubiak, of course, called the plays last year, deployed "12" personnel at the eighth-highest rate in the NFL (29.85 percent). The difference was, as easily expected, given the overall results for the two offenses, in efficiency.
All told for the season, accounting for all plays (run and pass), the Seahawks had the second-best EPA (Expected Points Added) out of "12" personnel (57.26) last season. On the other hand, the Raiders were 30th (-65.31). That's a difference of roughly 130 expected points added.
Mayer is easy to see as one of the prime beneficiaries of Kubiak's presence, and in a contract year, that potential surge in productivity will be well-timed. If it comes to fruition as it seems lined up to, the Raiders will indeed have one of the NFL's best tight end duos in 2026.
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