HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — New Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak wasted little time in choosing his offensive and defensive coordinators since being hired less than a week ago.
Raiders defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rob Leonard was officially elevated to defensive coordinator on Sunday, and Seahawks quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko will follow Kubiak from Seattle to be the offensive coordinator.
Kubiak did what the two previous Las Vegas coaches did in selecting a defensive coordinator — look within the staff. Leonard was the defensive line coach the past three seasons and added the title of run game coordinator in 2025 under then-coach Pete Carroll.
Carroll and his predecessor, Antonio Pierce, kept Patrick Graham in charge of the defense upon becoming the Raiders' coach. Graham now is the defensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In retaining Leonard, Kubiak also could be looking for a way to mend ties with star pass rusher Maxx Crosby. Relations between Crosby and the Raiders became frayed when the organization placed him on injured reserve with a knee injury with two games left last season. Crosby left the team facility upon receiving the news.
Crosby, who underwent surgery last month, said during a recent appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd" that reports he wanted to be traded came from other people and not him. But Crosby, wearing Raiders gear and speaking from the team facility, also did not deny such talk.
As for the 38-year-old Leonard, the Raiders allowed 3.9 yards per rush last season, tied for second in the NFL. They also were third in tackles for loss with 105.
The Raiders were in the middle of the pack in run defense in allowing 116.8 yards per game. But the defense often got worn down because Las Vegas was last in the field in average time of possession at 28:02.
The 37-year-old Janocko will receive a promotion in the move to the Raiders. He and Kubiak were on the Seahawks' staff, with Kubiak serving as the play caller for the Seahawks' Super Bowl-winning team.
Kubiak plans to still call plays, but made a point at his introductory news conference on Tuesday that it's not a one-man operation.
“I’ve never called the game by myself,” Kubiak said. “That’s something we do as a coaching staff together. We plan together. We communicate on game day together — quarterback coach, pass game coordinator, run game coordinator.”
Janocko worked directly with Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold this past season.
Darnold completed 67.7% of his passes for 4,048 yards with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Drafted third overall by the New York Jets in 2018, Darnold was considered a bust until leading Minnesota to a 14-win season in 2024. Then came another 14-win season with the Seahawks that culminated with Darnold hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
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FILE - Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko looks on from the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oct. 12, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
Las Vegas Raiders new head coach Klint Kubiak speaks during an introductory news conference at the NFL football team's training facility Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
FILE - Las Vegas Raiders defensive line coach Rob Leonard reviews a play on an NFL Copilot by Microsoft during the first half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Dec. 21, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hopes rose for renewed talks between the United States and Iran on Wednesday, as the U.S. military said its blockade of Iranian ports was in full effect and Tehran threatened to retaliate by strike targets across the war-weary region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks could happen "over the next two days," telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange them.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart, citing a meeting he had with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he would travel to Saudi Arabia Wednesday as his country pushes to mediate new talks and to Turkey for the Anatalya Peace Forum, which starts Friday.
Oil prices fell on hopes for an end to fighting, and in the U.S. stocks surged close to records set in January. The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.
Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. concluded on a productive note Tuesday, according to the U.S. State Department.
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries are “on the same side of the equation” in “liberating Lebanon” from the militant Hezbollah group. Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Since March, that war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.
Last weekend in Pakistan, an initial round of talks aimed at permanently ending the U.S.-Iran conflict failed to produce an agreement. The White House said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point.
“I think they want to make a deal very badly,” Trump said in an excerpt from an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria" scheduled to air Wednesday morning. He added: “I view it as very close to over.”
A U.S. official said Tuesday that fresh talks with Iran were still under discussion and that nothing has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s finance minister, told The Associated Press that “our leadership is not giving up” on efforts to help the U.S. and Iran end the conflict.
Though the ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the strategic Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the regional war's economic fallout.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
U.S. Central Command said Tuesday no ships made it past the blockade in the first 24 hours, while six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and reenter Iranian waters.
The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.
Tankers approaching the strait Monday turned around shortly after the blockade took effect, though one reversed course again and transited the waterway.
Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic, with most commercial vessels avoiding the waterway. Tehran's effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.
Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, Fatima Hussein, Collin Binkley, Chris Rugaber, Will Weissert and Konstantin Toporin in Washington; Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo; Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem; Edith Lederer and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter speaks with reporters outside of the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A volunteer flips a burnt book amid the debris of a residential building that, according to the authorities, was damaged on March 4 during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in southeastern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A veiled woman walks through a mass grave where civilians and Hezbollah fighters killed by Israeli airstrikes are temporarily buried in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Residents gesture and point toward damage as they stand near charred cars at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last Wednesday in central Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
