Category: Klint Kubiak

Klint Kubiak is bringing a couple of key assistants with him to the Seahawks

Saints QB coach Andrew Janocko was expected to join Klint Kubiak with the Seahawks, but he’s bringing OL coach John Benton with him, too:

The New Orleans Saints lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to the Seattle Seahawks a week ago, and it was expected quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko would also follow suit. Seattle received permission to interview Janocko in a lateral move. On Monday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Janocko is joining Kubiak in Seattle — and they’re bringing offensive line coach John Benton with them.

Janocko has always been Kubiak’s quarterback coach. They were on the Minnesota Vikings’ staff together before Kubiak brought him to New Orleans. It would make sense for those two to reunite in Seattle.

Kubiak was smart to jump to Seattle. At the time, the Saints coaching search was still up in the air. New Orleans is now in line to hire Kellen Moore. Kubiak making that move may keep himself and Janocko employed.

As for Benton? He’s an experienced and respected line coach around the league, having previously worked on the New York Jets and before that the San Francisco 49ers staff under Kyle Shanahan. He did good work preparing Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning to swap positions last offseason, but a new head coach (Moore or someone else) is going to want their own support staff.

We’ll see who else finds new jobs in the days and weeks ahead, and whether any assistants stay on board to work under a new coach.

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Saints will compete against former coaches Allen, Kubiak in 2025 road games

The Saints will go up against two of their recently-hired coaches on the road in 2025, with Klint Kubiak on the Seattle Seahawks and Dennis Allen on the Chicago Bears:

Two former New Orleans Saints coaches were recently hired to new teams in recent days. These were 2024 offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak who moves on to be the offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks, and former head coach Dennis Allen who will become the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator. This leaves the Saints without a head coach or offensive coordinator at this point in time, as they are now the last team to hire a head coach in the 2025 head coaching cycle.

They will not have to wait long to see either of these former staffers either, as they will be playing both the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks in 2025, both of which are away games.

The last time the Saints played the Seahawks in an away game was back in 2021, which was a Monday Night Football matchup that resulted in a 13-10 Saints victory. This was a slog of a game with neither team gaining any traction on offense and being pretty much lockdown on defense the entire time.

As for when the Saints last played the Bears in an away game, that was back in 2020 which was also a Saints victory, by a score of 26-23 in overtime. Drew Brees would go 31-of-41 for 280 passing yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 interceptions in that game, and Nick Foles would go 28-for-41 for 272 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to 1 interception.

None of these three teams are the same anymore however, Pete Carroll has gone from Seattle to the Las Vegas Raiders, Caleb Williams is the quarterback of the Bears, and the Saints are now without both Brees and Sean Payton. It will be interesting to see what route the Saints go with this offseason, and whether or not they are competitive in 2025 or just choose to break things down a bit more.

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Klint Kubiak could have a new home in 2025, but it won’t be this AFC team

The Cleveland Browns have decided to go with a different coach at offensive coordinator leaving Klint Kubiak looking towards the Seahawks

Klint Kubiak has interviewed with two teams so far this offseason, the Seattle Seahawks and the Cleveland Browns. He sat down with the Browns on Monday, and reports say Cleveland announced their going in a different direction Tuesday afternoon.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports Cleveland has promoted Tommy Rees to a new post as their offensive coordinator, which leaves just Seattle on the table. Kubiak’s meeting with the Seahawks was Tuesday.

Kubiak led the New Orleans Saints offense to a hot start, and Alvin Kamara had his best rushing season of his career. The offense showed more creativity with rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler in games. That may have been a product of his mobility or trying to compensate for Rattler’s inexperience. Either way, it’s on tape.

With the Saints bringing in a new head coach, it is a smart move for Kubiak to keep his options open.

New Orleans could hire an offensive minded head coach, which would immediately displace him. Even if New Orleans doesn’t hire an offensive-minded coach, they could move on from Kubiak.

Kubiak is smartly operating proactively. However, with one job down, his faith is being laced in the Seahawks. If he doesn’t get that job, he may have to work his way back up to the coordinator ranks.

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Dennis Allen says he’s not at fault for bizarre timeout vs. Broncos

Dennis Allen says don’t blame him for a bizarre timeout against the Broncos. He threw Klint Kubiak under the bus for that one:

What was with the New Orleans Saints timeouts before halftime in Thursday night’s loss to the Denver Broncos? It was an odd move when the team was down by multiple scores and set up deep in their own territory with just 11 seconds remaining, and it led to some irritation both from fans in attendance and the broadcast booth; Amazon Prime play-by-play announcer Al  Michaels grumbled something about having to wait a little longer to check the catering spread.

And according to Saints head coach Dennis Allen, it was offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak who signaled for a timeout.

“He got a little excited over there on the sideline,” Allen said Friday, via Nola.com’s Rod Walker. “He and I discussed that. That won’t be a problem moving forward.”

It was an odd moment, complete with the broadcast cameras picking  up Spencer Rattler mouthing, “What are we doing?” on his way back to the sideline between plays. Kubiak was trying to will the offense into putting some points on the board before halftime, having fallen to a 16-3 deficit after a Wil Lutz field goal on the previous drive.

But after Rattler gained a single yard on his first pass to Alvin Kamara followed by a 5-yard pickup on his next checkdown, everyone was ready to just go into the locker room, catch their breath, and pick up where they left off. The Saints were set to receive the opening kickoff for the second time after the break anyway.

But according to Section 5, Article 1 of the 2024 NFL Rulebook, assistant coaches like Kubiak are not supposed to be able to signal a timeout. Not that it stops them from trying:

The Referee shall suspend play while the ball is dead and declare a charged team timeout upon the request for a timeout by the head coach or any player (not a substitute) to any official. If an assistant coach signals for a timeout and it is inadvertently granted, the timeout will stand.

So they’ll need to be more clear about who can request those timeouts in the future, as Allen said. But that doesn’t mean he should be throwing his play caller under the bus. Allen didn’t have to name anyone, especially since he could’ve defended his coach and avoided an admission about violating NFL rules in the process, but he chose to anyway. The Saints are in a bad spot during their five-game losing streak and what looks to be their fourth year out of the playoffs. Allen might be feeling the pressure.

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Klint Kubiak listed as one of the most impactful coordinators of 2024

Klint Kubiak was the Saints’ biggest offseason acquisition, and he’s delivered on those expectations. He needs to keep it up:

Klint Kubiak was without a doubt Dennis Allen’s biggest offseason acquisition for the New Orleans Saints. This was the belief before the season started, and he’s showing why many were excited about the hire. Bleacher Report has Kubiak as one of the most impactful coordinators through three weeks.

The Saints offense looks nothing like last year’s unit both conceptually and production-wise. The most impressive part of the transformation is the skill positions are the same guys. It’s still all Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed at wide receiver. But Alvin Kamara has looked rejuvenated, and Derek Carr  has looked much-improved.

Taliese Fuaga and Lucas Patrick are the only true additions, but it’s a clear difference. Keeping it at the offensive line, Trevor Penning has played better after moving to right tackle. The offensive line as a whole performed much better than expected in the first two weeks before Erik McCoy went down in Week 3.

The Saints ranked second in points per game under this new system. The team has been using creative formations and motion frequently. Carr is taking advantage of the higher use of play action. Kamara is on pace to break last year’s rushing total by Week 8. If your offense is primarily the same but it looks and performs different, then the most logical place to look is the offensive coordinator. Kubiak has delivered on high expectations early on,  but he needs to keep it up through a long season.

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