Gutierrez: A first-time OC, Andrew Janocko comes to the Raiders with history in mind

May 18, 2026 at 05:35 PM

Raiders Columnist

Andrew Janocko is a Pittsburgh guy, through and through, a guy who's more than cognizant of history.

Having grown up a two-hour drive from where Three Rivers Stadium once stood, next to where Acrisure Stadium now lords over the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, is one thing. Playing his college ball at Pitt, and being part of the Panther quarterback pantheon with the likes of Dan Marino, Matt Cavanaugh and Kenny Pickett, well, that's another. And, oh yeah, Janocko's social media is filled with images of the Pirates.

The Raiders' new offensive coordinator is also now all in with the Silver and Black. And not just because he has to be. He wants to be.

Yes, two seeming diametrically opposed things can be true at the same time. Welcome to the modern NFL, where ancient rivalries can be put on hold.

"You just respect the history of football, and part of that is the history of the league," Janocko told me on the most recent episode of Upon Further Review. "And one of the storied franchises in the league is the Silver and Black, is the Raiders, is that shield. And so, that's something that growing up, and being just a football fan in general, is something that you respect. You respect certain logos, you respect certain organizations, and that's one.

"Growing up in the '90s and the 2000s, the Rich Gannon years, a lot of wins there, a lot of storied wins. This is a team that went to the Super Bowl [so that] just kind of puts a real respect on this organization."

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Talking about respect and Super Bowls, Janocko just won a ring himself.

The 38-year-old Janocko was the Seahawks quarterbacks coach and has worked alongside and with new Raiders coach Klint Kubiak on three of his last four NFL stops.

That would be in Minnesota (2019-21), New Orleans (2024) and Seattle (2025).

So it only made sense for Janocko to join the 39-year-old Kubiak in Las Vegas.

Janocko's reasoning was "twofold," he told me.

"One, it was the opportunity to continue my journey with coach," he said. "Our families have grown up together. Our kids have gone to school together. So when that opportunity presented itself, that was something that we thought was really special, really unique. In this business to … have a new opportunity with somebody that you've grown with in this profession, that you've been to lows and highs with throughout the profession …

"And then to do it at a place like this that has such a storied history, that's one of the revered franchises in the National Football League … the chance to get to come here, put this shield on, put the Silver and Black on and represent that Commitment to Excellence and that 'Just Win Baby' mentality is something that, as a family, we could not pass up."

Janocko, as you can tell, is big on history, and not just the NFL Films kind. He was a history major at Pitt and met his wife Natalie in a Greek history class (he's also a big pro wrestling buff who counts the nWo as one of his favorite cliques).

And given his, ahem, coaching history (he was the Vikings' assistant offensive line coach under Rick Dennison, yes the Raiders' new O-line coach, in 2019) and with who the Raiders signed (Kirk Cousins) and drafted (Fernando Mendoza) at the most important position in team sports this spring, well, allow Kubiak to explain why he wanted Janocko.

"You just look at his resume and the guys that he's worked with," Kubiak said, referencing Cousins in Minnesota, Derek Carr in New Orleans and Sam Darnold in Seattle. "Everywhere he's gone, guys have produced.

"Andrew is just a really, really phenomenal teacher. He knows how to keep it simple for the guys and he works his tail off to make sure he's prepared to go lead those meetings every day. I couldn't ask for a better quarterback coach, offensive coordinator, than Andrew. He's going to do a great job."

Which brings up the obvious question - if the scheme is Kubiak's and Kubiak is expected to be the play-caller on gameday, even as Kubiak said he's never called a game "alone," how does Janocko fit in as his OC?

"There's some parts that we're still figuring out, that we're feeling out, that we are building together," said Janocko, in the OC role for the first time in a coaching career that began in 2011. "But it all comes down to, how can we support Klint in his role as the play-caller? How can we build around our players? And then, what is each individual person's role in fulfilling that?

"That's something that … none of us take lightly - that we all are involved, we all want to pull our weight and that we build something that we put the players in the best situation to be successful. We put Klint in the best situation to be the play-caller, help him, give him any ideas that he would need to be successful. Try to problem-solve for him. That way he can rip the play calls and the guys can go execute."

No matter who is under center, or in shotgun.

Because as we've already established, Janocko is big on history and, thus, relationships (there's already a "baseline of trust" with Cousins, he said) but is looking forward to creating some new history in Las Vegas (Mendoza is a "tremendous worker," he said).

"He's somebody that wants to know the whys of everything, the story behind everything," Janocko said of Mendoza. "What we're calling, but why are we calling it?

"He's really just a sponge that wants to know everything. So it's a lot of fun working with a quarterback like that because he's coming in as a blank slate in this offense - never been in this offense before - and just asking a ton of questions."

As Janocko said, the No. 1 draft pick's curiosity is keeping the coach on his toes.

"He's asking questions that you might not have thought about in a couple of years," Janocko said, referencing his working primarily with vets in the recent past.

"It also makes you evaluate everything. 'I know we've had some success doing it one way, but we could do it another way and be even better.'"

Janocko is also digging having tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty at the ready.

"Two huge competitors," Janocko said. "Two guys that are pedal-to-the-floor all the time. If we get an hour on the field, that's an hour of full-speed work. We get 30 minutes on the field, that's … 30 minutes of all they've got.

"So those are two guys that don't know another gear; they only know how to go and how to work hard, and that kind of sets the pace for what we want to be and where we want to go."

Like going from a through and through Pittsburgh guy to a full-blown Raider guy. It's kind of historic, when you think about it.

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A kettle bell in the weight room at an Organized Team Activity (OTA) at Intermountain Health Performance Center.