Raiders promoting Rob Leonard to defensive coordinator

Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Feb 14, 2026

Published in Football

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LAS VEGAS — Klint Kubiak apparently didn’t look far for his defensive coordinator.

The Las Vegas Raiders’ new coach is reportedly promoting from within for the position, elevating run-game coordinator/defensive line coach Rob Leonard.

The sides are said to be finalizing a deal.

Kubiak will reportedly also retain Joe Woods, the Raiders’ defensive pass-game coordinator/defensive backs coach, with whom Kubiak worked with in New Orleans.

Leonard has 14 seasons of NFL coaching experience at various stops. He arrived to the Raiders in 2023 and was retained to the staff when Pete Carroll came aboard last year as coach.

Carroll promoted Leonard by adding the run-game coordinator duties to his title.

The Raiders posted 37 sacks last season, ranking 18th across the league. Under Leonard’s direction up front, the high for such numbers was 46 sacks in 2023.

Before coming to Las Vegas, Leonard spent a season with the Baltimore Ravens as their outside linebackers coach and working under then-defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.

Kubiak was Macdonald’s offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, so there is a connection between Leonard and the Raiders’ coach.

Prior to Baltimore, Leonard spent three years with the Miami Dolphins, where he held positions of linebackers coach, assistant defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach.

He was an assistant coach with the New York Giants for six years to begin his NFL tenure. He spent four years as a defensive assistant before assuming the title of assistant defensive line coach under then-defensive line coach and former Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

Leonard also coached linebackers with the Giants.

Leonard has worked closely with Raiders’ star edge rusher Maxx Crosby, so the former’s promotion could perhaps play a part in the rumors of Crosby’s disenchantment with the franchise subsiding.

Prior to joining the NFL ranks, Leonard coached at his alma mater, North Carolina State, where he was a graduate assistant for three seasons (2010-12). During that time, the Wolfpack appeared in three consecutive bowl games.

Leonard began his college playing career at Division III Washington and Jefferson. He was then a three-year letterman at safety and linebacker at North Carolina State, initially joining the team as a walk-on before earning a scholarship.

In 2008, he led the Wolfpack with 95 tackles and earned the team’s Mike Hardy Award, given annually to the player who plays beyond his capabilities.

In 2009, he served as a defensive assistant with Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, N.C.

As for Woods, he joined the Raiders last season for a second stint with the organization. He spent the 2014 season in Oakland, Calif., as the defensive backs coach.

Before returning, Woods spent two seasons (2023-24) as defensive coordinator in New Orleans.

Over that time, his unit ranked ninth in the NFL in third-down conversion rate and fourth in fourth-down conversion rate. His defenses totaled 46 takeaways in his two seasons with the Saints.

Woods has 34 years of coaching experience, including 22 in the NFL.

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