Veteran offensive line coach Rick Dennison knows he has a big task in front of him to improve one of the league’s worst units in his first year with the Las Vegas Raiders.
There’s just one word associated with such a project that he really doesn’t like to hear.
“I’m a little uncomfortable with ‘rebuild,’ he said Tuesday at the team facility in Henderson. “We’re going to play football. I don’t know where we are or where we’ll start, but we’re just playing football right now.”
So far, he’s been pleased with the progress they are making toward that goal.
“It’s just about grinding every day and doing the same things every day to get better,” he said. “Mario (Jeberaeel), our assistant run game coordinator, says muscles are dumb. You have to train them. And they’ve been training really hard. It might be monotonous to do the same drills, the same combinations, but we’ve got to get synced with the five guys up front. It’s important for everyone to see the same thing.
“It’s a steady climb and it’s just going to take a lot of hard work and they’re not afraid of that.”
Dennison, 67, has been the architect of some great run offenses during his time as a coach, so he knows what he wants it to look like at this time of year as the team goes through OTAs.
He credited veteran left tackle Kolton Miller, who is now healthy after missing extended periods last year, for his leadership.
But it’s the addition of free agent Tyler Linderbaum that has the potential to be a game-changer for the group.
“Tyler has been great,” Dennison said. “He’s obviously a very talented player, but he takes command of the group on the ball and makes all the calls, which is imperative for us. The center is the only one who can tie both sides together, and he has done that very well in the time we’ve had him. Always asking great questions and everybody follows.
“He leads, they follow.”
Dennison is excited about the group, but is particularly proud to be a part of new head coach Klint Kubiak’s first staff in that role.
He has known Kubiak for most of his life.
Dennison played with Klint’s father, Gary Kubiak, and became friends with the family, ultimately coaching with both father and son.
“I watched Klint throughout the years as he played a lot of both football and baseball with my oldest son, and (the Kubiaks) are both great people,” Dennison said. “They know how to treat people and communicate very well. Then, they’re smart. That’s a good combination. You like working for people like that. He has your best interest in mind, and I think that’s the common thing between the two of them.”
He has also been impressed with how genuine both father and son are as people.
“They’re themselves. You can’t be manufactured in this business. These guys are professional athletes and they know what they’re looking at. If you’re not true to yourself, they see it,” Dennison said. “That’s one of the first things Gary told me when I took the O-line job in Denver is that you have to be yourself. You can’t just try to be the guy before you or someone else. You have to be you and just coach them. I think that’s the way Klint is, too. He’s himself. He coaches the way he believes. We’ll run the schemes that we feel best, not just that they work, but what works best with our guys. I think that’s the common theme. They know how to communicate and get everyone going in the right direction.”
He has seen it for many years.
The first time Dennison and Klint Kubiak worked together was in Denver when the young Kubiak was an assistant quarterbacks coach under Greg Knapp, who Dennison believes taught Kubiak quite a bit about coaching and the game.
They were again on the same staff in Minnesota with the Vikings and the growth Kubiak had shown was obvious to Dennison, who then stepped back for a couple years to coach high school football in Minnesota.
He returned to the NFL to work under Kubiak when he was an offensive coordinator in New Orleans in 2024 and then went to Seattle, where they won a Super Bowl together last season.
It was a fairly easy choice to continue their journey together when Kubiak was named head coach of the Raiders in February.
“It was pretty much, ‘Do you want to keep coaching?’ and ‘What do you think about going to the Raiders?’” Dennison recalled. “I’ve competed against the Raiders for many years, obviously with my time in Denver, and always respected the organization. It was just that working for him is worth it for me.
“Then obviously I know (general manager John Spytek) and those guys up there from our Denver days, too. So everybody you work for, you feel good about it and feel like you can do some good things.”
Dennison believes Kubiak will be successful because he will make sure he puts in the effort.
“He works his tail off and now he’s reaping the benefits,” Dennison said. “I’m really happy for him.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
