Scott Gulbransen
Rob Leonard has never called a defensive play at the NFL level. That’s an important note before we get into the news Raiders’ head coach Klint Kubiak broke on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Leonard is a smart guy and he’s in a good situation under Klint Kubiak. John Spytek apparently fought hard to get him the job. Now, Leonard has his work cut out for him. He’s been hired as a first-time coordinator, inheriting a defense that was one of the league’s worst last season and publicly announcing that he’s installing a brand-new scheme on top of it.
Here’s why it’s a bigger deal than a depth chart shuffle.
The Switch from the 4-3 to 3-4
Patrick Graham ran a 4-3 defense during his four years as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator. The concept was straightforward — send four on a pass rush and let the linebackers defend underneath and fill their gaps. It didn’t work. Graham is now in Pittsburgh. The Raiders went 3-14.
A 3-4 is a whole different animal. You drop to three defensive linemen, and the nose tackle has to hold the point of attack so the inside and outside linebackers can stay clean and make tackles. The outside linebackers aren’t just pass rushers. They set the edge on run plays, drop into coverage, and rush the passer from a two-point stance. That’s a lot of responsibilities for three guys. That’s a much heavier load than Graham ever put on his personnel.
Leonard worked in Baltimore under Mike Macdonald and in Miami under Brian Flores. Two of the best minds in defensive football right now. When Kubiak calls him a coach with a “concise vision,” I believe it. And I don’t think this is going to be your basic, bland 3-4. Expect the Raiders to mix in a 3-3-5 on third downs, which is most of the game in today’s NFL, with constant rotation, stunts, and blitzes, and linebackers who have a ton of responsibilities both pre-snap and post-snap. Macdonald’s fingerprints are all over this thing.
The Raiders have Massive Roster Issues Moving to the 3-4
Now here’s where it gets messy.
Maxx Crosby fits. Whatever is going on with the trade rumors, the scheme change actually plays to his strengths. He’s always been a stand-up edge player. A 3-4 outside linebacker is essentially what he’s already been doing.
If Tyree Wilson comes back, he also benefits. Moving him to a 4-technique, crashing inside from the shoulder of the tackle, uses his length and power in a more confined space and takes the pressure off the athleticism concerns that got exposed rushing from the outside. Jonah Laulu is in a similar spot. Laulu is a little light for a true 3-tech in a 4-3, but inside a 3-4, he’s got a defined role that fits what he actually is.
That’s three guys. Three.
Every linebacker who took a meaningful snap for this defense last season — including Devin White and Jeremy Chinn— is a free agent in March. Leonard is installing a four-linebacker scheme with nobody signed at the position worth building around. That’s not a rotation question. That’s a crisis.
The nose tackle situation is just as bad. There isn’t one on this roster, unless you count 2025 sixth-round draft pick JJ Pegues. He’s the Raiders’ only player with nose tackle experience, a sixth-round rookie who struggled with double teams in year one. A true 3-4 nose tackle is one of the hardest players to find in football. You need someone who can eat double teams, control his gap, and not give a guard a free release to the second level on third down. The Raiders need to find that player in free agency, the draft, or both.
General manager John Spytek has cap space and he knows what Leonard needs. But there is a significant gap between what this defense requires and what’s currently in that building.
Leonard has the vision. He has the right background. He just needs about eight more players first.
