{"id":747059,"date":"2026-02-12T13:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/747059\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:21:19","slug":"afc-notes-fernando-mendoza-klint-kubiak-chargers-raiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/747059\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Notes: Fernando Mendoza, Klint Kubiak, Chargers, Raiders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chargers are expected to hire Dolphins run game specialist Chandler Henley. (Matt Zenitz<\/a>)
\nThe Chargers and run game coordinator\/tight ends coach Andy Bischoff are expected to part ways. (Zenitz<\/a>)
\nCBS Sports\u2019 Matt Zenitz<\/a> reports the Chargers are expected to hire Rutgers OLBs coach Julian Campenni as assistant DL coach.<\/p>\n

The Raiders go into the offseason with $91.52 million in cap space and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Las Vegas\u2019 new HC Klint Kubiak said their available cap and the draft\u2019s top pick were both factors in his decision to come aboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resources that the Raiders have \u2014 this building, having cap space, having the first pick \u2014 those all go into the decision,\u201d Kubiak said, via the team\u2019s YouTube<\/a>. \u201cAs far as who the first pick is gonna be, we have a lot of tape to watch to before we determine who that\u2019s gonna be. I\u2019m excited to get into that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubiak on pass rusher Maxx Crosby<\/a>: \u201cI look forward to continuing those conversations. We want him to be part of our success going forward.\u201d (Bergman<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The consensus around the league is that the Raiders will use the No. 1 overall pick on Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza in the 2026 NFL Draft. During Super Bowl week, Mendoza spoke on the similarities between the Hoosiers\u2019 2025 offense and new HC Klint Kubiak\u2019s offense, specifically the wide-zone-based scheme that has dynamic play-action passes married to the run concepts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this entire season, we actually had a little bit of a Kubiak-[Sean] McVay system, not for our RPO system but our play-action,\u201d Mendoza said, via ESPN\u2019s Ryan McFadden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way [Kubiak] is able to incorporate outside zone and get the edge with the run game, where the running back can collect the edge, hit the hole or cut back and do play-action off of that, and the way he has developed Sam Darnold<\/a> has been phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being a football fan, I watched a lot of breakdowns of his films.\u201d<\/p>\n

One anonymous executive on the hiring of Kubiak in Las Vegas: \u201cFrom a football mind, an OC, Klint is a stud. I think Klint will do great. Really good human, and he\u2019s going to work his butt off. But there are institutional issues in Vegas.\u201d (The Athletic<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chargers are expected to hire Dolphins run game specialist Chandler Henley. (Matt Zenitz) The Chargers and run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[107300,45903,3619,7,107301,8357,6563,1878],"class_list":{"0":"post-747059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-andy-bischoff","9":"tag-chandler-henley","10":"tag-fernando-mendoza","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-julian-campenni","13":"tag-klint-kubiak","14":"tag-maxx-crosby","15":"tag-sam-darnold"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116057872595679082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}