Most of the news about the Las Vegas Raiders this week focused on the meeting between quarterback Fernando Mendoza meeting with minority owner Tom Brady and the rest of the Raiders’ brain trust, but Las Vegas also made a hire that will have a more immediate effect on the team’s football operations, adding Nick Holz to their coaching staff as offensive pass game coordinator.
The move was reported by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who noted that Holz has an extensive history with the Raiders. He worked with the team from 2012-2021 in a series of roles that included offensive assistant from 2012 through 2014, offensive quality control coach from 2015 through 2016, assistant receivers coach in 2017, offensive quality control coach from 2018 through 2020, and assistant receivers coach in 2021.
Holz was offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans last season, which didn’t go well for the team. Holz was part of a coaching group that was tasked with developing rookie quarterback Cam Ward, but coach Brian Callahan was fired in the middle of the season as Ward struggled and expressed his frustration with the team’s schemes and coaching at several points during the season.
Holz has also worked in the college ranks as offensive coordinator at UNLV in 2022, and the following year he was passing game coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Callahan hired him the following year, but now Holz is returning to Las Vegas, where he’ll be working with yet another coach and offensive coordinator combination.
New Raiders coach hired Andrew Janocko as his offensive coordinator, so it will be total turnover time once again in Las Vegas. There’s been a lot of discussion about Kubiak’s offensive philosophy and tendencies and how he’ll apply them in Las Vegas, but no one really knows how this is going to look until the Raiders make decisions about quarterbacks Geno Smith and Mendoza.
Smith’s contract is something of a nightmare, although there are far worse quarterback situations around the league. The Raiders are on the hook for $18 million regardless of what they do with Smith, and another $8 million in injury guarantee money comes due next month. Kubiak said this week that he’s “considering all options” at quarterback, including Smith, but of course the real question is whether the Raiders will draft Mendoza in April.
Las Vegas does have some attractive offensive pieces in place for 2026. The tight-end combination of Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer is strong, and running back Ashton Jeanty showed promise. Left tackle Kolton Miller has been a highly-rated lineman, and that should continue now that he’s recovered from his high ankle sprain that turned out to be a stress fracture last year.