The Las Vegas Raiders are currently paying the price for waiting until after the Super Bowl to hire their head coach. But that's okay, as Klint Kubiak is still putting together a great inaugural coaching staff with the Silver and Black, even if the process isn't as quick or as smooth as fans had hoped.
Although he clearly did not get his top options at several posts, and a hole still exists in the quarterbacks coach role, Kubiak has made some savvy additions to the team. Not everyone will be on staff next season, as Kubiak will have more options a year from now, but this is a great start.
Perhaps his most fascinating hire yet came on Sunday, as the Raiders announced that Mario Jeberaeel would serve as the offensive run game coordinator. Jeberaeel is a Las Vegas native who has spent the last three seasons working as a defensive coach in the NFL.
Raiders hire Las Vegas native Mario Jeberaeel as run game coordinator
First of all, asking a coach to work on the opposite side of the ball than they are comfortable on is a very forward-thinking, Shanahan-McVay-Kubiak coaching tree thing to do. Raheem Morris and several others have done it, and ultimately, they were better for it.
Now, let's get into Jeberaeel. Not only is he a Las Vegas native, but he played on the offensive line at UNLV for five years, from 2004-08. He started coaching at a local high school and served as a volunteer assistant for the Runnin' Rebels. Then, his coaching career really took off.
Jeberaeel left for Division I FCS Nicholls State in 2010, where he spent three seasons. He earned a promotion each year, rising from offensive graduate assistant to assistant offensive line coach to offensive line coach.
He then darted for Division II Arkansas - Monticello, where he became the offensive line, tight ends and fullbacks coach, in addition to being the recruiting and strength coordinator. After two years there, he left for the University of Kansas, where he first crossed paths with Klint Kubiak.
Kubiak spent just one year, 2015, wth the Jayhawks. Jeberaeel was a graduate assistant and assistant offensive line coach that year before eventually being promoted to offensive quality control coach in 2017.
In 2018, he was hired as the offensive line coach at Abilene Christian, a Division I FCS school. He spent three years there, but also did a Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship with the Green Bay Packers under Matt LaFleur, a Shanahan-McVay disciple, in 2019, where he helped the offensive line in OTAs.
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By 2021, he had been hired as a diversity coaching intern with the Atlanta Falcons under Arthur Smith. The next year, he was promoted to assistant offensive line coach, and in 2023, he was switched over to being a defensive coach and in charge of special projects.
Jeberaeel left the Falcons for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024, and he stuck with defensive coaching, accepting an outside linebackers coach job. He was retained under Liam Coen's staff in 2025 as a defensive assistant coach.
So, to sum things up, Jeberaeel is from Las Vegas, played Division I offensive line at the local college, started coaching in 2009, has six years of NFL coaching experience, three on each side of the ball, and will be the run game coordinator for the Raiders, a position and responsibility he has never held.
I love it.
For too long, the Silver and Black have hired the same old people and made boring decisions when it comes to their coaching staff. This is a potential young up-and-comer in the profession who has a connection to the city and a diverse background. That's who Kubiak wants in the building.
Ultimately, Jeberaeel, given his history playing and coaching the position, could be the heir to the throne at the offensive line coach post. Rick Dennison certainly wasn't Plan A, and at his age, he'd much rather be a senior assistant or some kind of coordinator, not in the weeds as a position coach.
While he doesn't have the most impressive résumé on paper, Jeberaeel is just a fascinating hire. Time will tell how things work out, but he truly cannot be worse, as the Raiders' rushing attack has ranked dead-last in the NFL in each of the last two seasons by every metric.
Welcome home, coach!