Klint Kubiak made another major hire this weekend, as the new coach of the Las Vegas Raiders reached into the college ranks to hire Joe DeCamillis his new special teams coordinator, according to a report written by Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
DeCamillis will likely draw a “who’s that?” reaction from most fans, but he’s been in the NFL before. DeCamillis has spent the last two season coaching college teams, first as a special teams assistant for the Texas Longhorns, then for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He won the Frank Broyles Award, which recognizes the best assistant coach in college football, for the Gamecocks last season, according to Williams.
DeCamillis has also been in the NFL before for a long list of teams, with his last stop being with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023. The other teams include the Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars, so he was a well-traveled NFL lifer before his college coaching hiatus. He also has a family background as an NFL coach, being the son-in-law of the late Dan Reeves.
The Rams part of his resume doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Special teams has been the Achilles heal of wunderkind Rams coach Sean McVay, and the unit has been a dumpster fire for a while now. DeCamillis was fired from that job back in 2023, which helps explain his move to the college ranks.
His connection with Kubiak dates back to their time together with the Denver Broncos in 2016. Kubiak was an offensive assistant back then, while DeCamillis was Denver’s special teams coordinator. Apparently the two formed a bond that was lasting enough to spark this hire, although it is a surprise given that most of Kubiak’s other initial interviews were with members of fellow coaches from the Seattle Seahawks staff.
DeCamillis will face a challenge in Las Vegas. Special teams appearances were often a minefield for the Raiders this year, and veteran special teams coach Tom McMahon was a casualty in coach Pete Carroll’s ongoing coaching purges last year. McMahon was fired in midseason after a blocked punt and a missed field goal cost the Raiders one of their few opportunities for a win.
Kicker Daniel Carlson had a down year for the Raiders last season, so evaluating him will likely be DeCamillis’s first priority. The rest will be part of an overall fix of a team that played badly in all three phases for most of the year, and it will be up to DeCamillis to restore order with the Raiders’ special teams.