{"id":900149,"date":"2026-05-24T17:42:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/900149\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T17:42:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:42:38","slug":"raiders-hc-klint-kubiak-says-exactly-what-needs-to-be-said-about-a-situation-that-has-some-of-the-fan-base-freaking-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/900149\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders HC Klint Kubiak says exactly what needs to be said about a situation that has some of the fan base freaking out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Las Vegas Raiders need all hands on deck for this season, but OTAs are voluntary, not mandatory. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1366\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-24-12.04.07-AM.png\" class=\"attachment-1280 size-1280 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak at the podium to talk about defensive back Taron Johnson\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  data-hero=\"atoz-hero\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLas Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak at the podium to talk about defensive back Taron Johnson<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a aria-label=\"Go to image source: Raiders&#039; YouTube Channel\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9bddxs4CDW0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Raiders&#8217; YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is something currently making the Las Vegas Raiders fan base freak out. It\u2019s only the OTAs portion of the offseason\u2014it\u2019s not even time for mandatory minicamp yet. However, fans are fans for a reason; they overreact to everything involving their team, and that\u2019s what makes them such good fans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this scenario, there are rumors and even partial reports that new Raiders\u2019 defensive back Taron Johnson is seeking more guaranteed money on his contract. Those reports suggest that\u2019s why he\u2019s not at OTAs, and hasn\u2019t been yet. <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/las-vegas-raiders-news\/trade-for-slot-cornerback-buffalo-bills-taron-johnson-send-sixth-round-pick-for-seventh\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vegas just traded for him this offseason<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/buffalo-bills-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buffalo Bills.<\/a> When healthy, and that\u2019s a big if in the equation, he can be elite at times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is causing fans to freak out, wondering if he might not be available for training camp. He\u2019s set to be the starter at nickel. Recently, head coach Klint Kubiak addressed the situation and actually said what needed to be said to calm everything down a bit.<\/p>\n<p>Klint Kubiak addressed Taron Johnson not at OTAs<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYeah, shoot, it\u2019s a voluntary time of year, can\u2019t wait to get those guys [LB Nakobe Dean also not at OTAs] back. Really fired up for the guys that are here, but have been in contact with both of those guys and they\u2019ve been doing a great job, some here, some away,\u201d Kubiak told reporters earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Klint Kubiak on Taron Johnson and Nakobe Dean&#8217;s absence:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a voluntary time of year. Can&#8217;t wait to get those guys back. Really fired up for the guys that are here. But been in contact with both of those guys and they&#8217;ve been doing a great job. Some here and some away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sam Warren (@samwarren83) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/samwarren83\/status\/2057171792868057444?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is how he should respond, because it\u2019s certainly not that big of a deal. There is plenty of time between now and the start of training camp to get the deal done. He wants more guaranteed money, which is fair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, if he doesn\u2019t show and it doesn\u2019t get done, the Raiders will have to address their nickel position. Either they just make Greedy Vance the starter at Nickel, as the UDFA NB played decent last season. Or, they make one of the safeties with starter experience the starting nickel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This situation should work itself out, though.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/USATSI_28865998-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza\" loading=\"lazy\"   width=\"200\" height=\"200\" style=\"object-position:50% 50%\"\/>\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"query-card-horizontal__category is-style-eyebrow\">Las Vegas Raiders News<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/las-vegas-raiders-news\/lv-quarterbacks-rookie-fernando-mendoza-veteran-kirk-cousins-otas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLas Vegas Raiders just teased the fan base in the perfect way with their quarterbacks at OTAs\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"is-style-body-small\">The Las Vegas Raiders are about to start OTAs, and the social media team has put out some perfect clips of the QBs.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders need all hands on deck for this season, but OTAs are voluntary, not mandatory.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7,8357,1744,393,2455,2454,6,8405,525,1727],"class_list":["post-900149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-las-vegas-raiders","tag-football","tag-klint-kubiak","tag-las-vegas","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-lasvegas","tag-lasvegasraiders","tag-nfl","tag-otas","tag-raiders","tag-taron-johnson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116630791695218171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900149","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=900149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}