Before the Atlanta Falcons hired Kevin Stefanski to be its new head coach, one of the coaches who they did a of of homework on was Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the engineer of one of the NFL's best offenses from a season ago with Sam Darnold and the Seahawks.
Seattle's offensive explosion came out of nowhere, as did Jaxon Smith-Njigba's OPOY campaign. Darnold was playing like an MVP candidate in 2025 and their run game was dangerous, so Kubiak become one of the NFL's brightest offensive minds and someone the Falcons should've been interested in.
The Falcons interviewed and many fans (myself included) wanted them to go with Kubiak for more of a Ben Johnson-esque hire. But obviously, this never happened, and he ended up getting hired by the Las Vegas Raiders, who have been one of the biggest surprise teams through these first three weeks.
I bet you didn't have this on your bingo card. The Raiders are currently 3-0, are fresh off of a commanding victory over the New Orleans Saints yesterday, and are averaging over 29 points per game in 2026 with former Falcon Kirk Cousins starting, but I guess hindsight isn't always 20/20.
Klint Kubiak's Raiders stint doesn't mean Kevin Stefanski was the wrong hire
Based off of that alone, it's easy to get introspective and say Atlanta made the wrong hire choosing Stefanski over Kubiak. And so far, yes, the 39-year-old looks like a home-run hire with the personnel he has in Vegas, so we can only imagine what he could've cooked up with Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts.
But for starters, this is just a very small sample size. This is based off just three games against three incredibly weak opponents. The Chargers are a surprise 0-3, the Saints are 1-2, and the Dolphins are 0-3, so it's not like they're beating teams like the Chiefs and Bills, because they're not on that level yet.
Meanwhile, Stefanski has gotten off to a 1-2 start in Atlanta, but the Dirty Birds are fresh off of a commanding victory on primetime. Those two losses also came with Cooper Rush starting, but with Michael Penix Jr. back in the lineup against the Green Bay Packers, the Falcons looked dominant. This is a team that should compete for a playoff spot if they get consistent QB play all year.
They beat the by 21 (35-14) on the road in a TNF game they went for over 500 yards of offense and dominated them on both sides of the line of scrimmage. And if we're talking about utilizing talent, both Bijan Robinson and Drake London went nuclear--and Penix finally looked like a franchise QB.
Frankly, that Packers win is more of a statement than any win Kubiak has picked up with Vegas. Lambeau Field is a notoriously difficult place to play, and even while the Packers are off to a shaky start, they're still a team with a lot of talent who's made the playoffs in six of the last seven years.
The ripple effects of the Falcons choosing to hire Klint Kubiak over Kevin Stefanski would have been felt across the NFL. If they beat the Chiefs on Sunday, perhaps Kubiak and the Raiders will be taken more seriously, but right now, it seems like both franchises landed the leader they needed.
Add us as a preferred source on Google