New coach Klint Kubiak is still rounding out his staff as he takes the reins for the Las Vegas Raiders, and today he made one of his most important interview requests, asking the Minnesota Vikings for permission to interview assistant offensive coordinator Jordan Traylor for their position as quarterback coach. The news was reported today in a piece by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk via Adam Schefter of ESPN.
As important as the coordinators are, you could make the argument that this would be Kubiak’s most important interview and hire if the request is granted and Traylor gets the job.
Kubiak isn’t going to have time to do as much work with his quarterbacks in Las Vegas that he did with the Seattle Seahawks, and Traylor could be the guy who ends up mentoring and developing quarterback Fernando Gonzalez if the Raiders take him as expected with the top pick in this year’s draft.
Traylor and Kubiak have a history, which is always significant with hires at this level. They worked together when Kubiak was the offensive coordinator in 2024, when Traylor was an offensive assistant for the Saints. Given how new Traylor is to the Vikings, though, there’s always the possibility they could turn down the request if Minnesota is happy with his work to date.
There’s still some question about which quarterback Traylor might be working with, however. Kubiak’s comments about Mendoza have been cautious and on the tepid side, probably because the new coach knows how tough it’s going to be to win with a rookie quarterback.
There’s also been some talk that Kubiak might be willing to keep quarterback Geno Smith and use him as a bridge quarterback to get to Mendoza. This would go over horribly with the fan base after the season Smith just had, but the operating theory behind this one would be that if Kubiak won with Darnold, he could to it with Smith, who had stretches where he was somewhat effective when he could avoid turnovers.
The QB situation might still be a little bit murky, which means it’s huge for Kubiak to finish putting his staff together as quickly and efficiently as possible. He needs to get everyone on the same page right away to avoid the kind of disaster that hit the Raiders last year when coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator were force into the football equivalent of a shotgun marriage that didn’t work out well for either party. Kubiak is on the clock now, so it will be interesting to see if he gets to do this particular interview.