The Las Vegas Raiders continue to make coaching hires as the NFL Combine draws closer, with the most recent being Mario Jeberaeel named running game coordinator, with the news reported by Ely Allen of ProFootball Rumors.com.
Jeberaeel is a native of Las Vegas, and he actually started as a high-school coach back in 2009 before making a series of stops in the college ranks. Those stops included Arkansas-Monticello, Kansas and Abilene Christian before he made his NFL debut with the Atlanta Falcons in 2021.
He actually started asa diversity coaching intern working with teh offensive line, which is certainly different, but Jeberaeel moved up quickly through the rans, getting promoted to assistant offensive line coach in 2022, and special projects (defense) coach in 2023.
After that Jeberaeel moved on to the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he started as the assistant outside linebackers coach, then shifted over to become a defensive assistant. He’ll work with new offensive line coach Rick Dennison and running backs coach Matt Zenitz to try to elevate a run game that finished last in rushing yards and touchdowns in 2025.
The goal will be to unleash Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, who had a disappointing season, rushing for just 57.4 yards per game and a per-carry average of 3.7. Dennison will try to boost performance of a line that was mostly dreadful, and it will also be interesting to see if the Raiders diversify their running back room to take some of the load off Jeanty, who had some moments but didn’t post enough big plays to justify being selected with the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft.
The run game will be vital to Kubiak’s success or failure next season. He’s been lauded for his work with quarterback Sam Darnold, but a big part of Darnold’s successful Super Bowl run was the presence of Kenneth Walker III, who allowed the Seattle Seahawks to control the ball on the ground when necessary while making occasional big plays.
Jeanty showed some ability to do that as well, and the Raiders would love to get the same kind of production from Jeanty, and it would also help strengthen the play-action passing, which is also a feature of a Kubiak-led offense. “Heavy” sets with two tight ends will also be featured, and Jeberaeel will have a lot to put together to increase production for tight ends Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers.