LAS VEGAS — The apple didn’t fall far from the coaching tree. In fact, it just hired the guy who used to water it. New Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak isn’t wasting time trying to scrub the stench off a 3-14 disaster of a season. His first big move? bringing in a two-time Super Bowl champion who knows exactly how the Kubiak family operates.
Sources confirmed Monday that the Raiders have agreed to terms with 60-year-old Joe DeCamillis as their new special teams coordinator. If the name sounds familiar to the AFC West faithful, it should. DeCamillis didn’t just win Super Bowl 50 with Klint’s dad, Gary Kubiak, in Denver; he’s practically extended family.
The “Family Business” Approach
Klint Kubiak, fresh off a Super Bowl run as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, is walking into a buzzsaw in Las Vegas. The roster is young, the division is brutal, and the expectations are immediate. He needs soldiers he can trust. DeCamillis fits that bill perfectly.
This isn’t just a “buddy hire.” DeCamillis is a mechanic for broken units. He spent the last two seasons at South Carolina and 2023 at Texas, but his NFL résumé is ironclad. He owns two rings—one with the Broncos (2015) and one with the Rams (2021). He’s seen the mountaintop.
The connection runs even deeper than the Kubiaks. DeCamillis is married to Dana Reeves, the daughter of legendary Broncos head coach Dan Reeves. He even served as Denver’s interim head coach for one game in October 2016—a gritty 21-13 loss to the Chargers—when Gary Kubiak was sidelined with an illness.
“Joe is a grinder. He’s got that old-school toughness but understands the modern athlete. We aren’t looking for friends; we’re looking for fixers. And Joe fixes things.”
— Raiders Front Office Source
Mission Impossible: The AFC West Gauntlet
Let’s be real: DeCamillis has his work cut out for him. The AFC West is a shark tank. The Denver Broncos are monsters right now, returning nearly every starter from a squad that went 14-3 and snatched the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2025. The Chargers clawed into the playoffs despite their infirmary list being longer than their roster.
And then there’s Kansas City. Sure, the Chiefs stumbled to 6-10 last year, but counting out a team with three rings since 2020 is foolish. They will reload. They always do.
The Silver Lining?
The Raiders hold the golden ticket: the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The league-wide consensus screams Fernando Mendoza. The Heisman-winning quarterback has the arm to pair with All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers and sophomore running back Ashton Jeanty, who flashed brilliance as the No. 5 pick last year.
If Kubiak and DeCamillis can stabilize the third phase of the game, and Mendoza is the real deal, Vegas might finally have a hand worth playing. But in this division? They better learn to bluff fast.
