What will the Raiders' defense look like under Rob Leonard?

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Life as a defensive coordinator has been quite an adjustment for Rob Leonard.

As the Las Vegas Raiders' defensive line coach since 2023, Leonard was accustomed to overseeing one position group, occasionally hitting the sled with his players at the back of the practice field. Now, he bounces around from the defensive line to defensive backs during individual drills to ensure everyone is on the same page.

He has had to spend countless hours creating a scheme based on his experiences working under defensive coordinators such as Mike Macdonald, Brian Flores and Steve Spagnuolo.

Leonard's new role has required more work. But after being a defensive assistant since he began his coaching career at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, the added responsibilities have been rewarding nonetheless.

"It's been a lot of fun. It's humbling," Leonard said.

With Leonard being a first-time defensive coordinator, the Raiders have been trying to keep most of their plans under wraps.

However, their OTA and mandatory minicamp practices revealed enough to show that the Raiders' defense will feature a ton of versatility and play with an aggressive style that matches Leonard's personality.

"It is great, because it's trying to keep an advantage," Leonard said. "I want a player-led defense and them to understand conceptually. ...That's how you're able to be multiple, that's how they're able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a call, and that has really been our focus."

Leonard never pushed to climb the coaching ranks. He spent six seasons as an assistant for the New York Giants, including three under Spagnuolo, who was the defensive coordinator from 2016 to 2018. Leonard was a linebackers coach and assistant defensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021. Leonard then spent one season as an outside linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 before moving to Las Vegas.

At each stop, he had faith that his work would eventually lead to him being a coordinator.

Leonard's patience was rewarded when Klint Kubiak was named the head coach in February. Leonard didn't have a prior relationship with Kubiak. But general manager John Spytek and defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Joe Woods -- who worked with Kubiak in Denver and New Orleans -- spoke highly of Leonard, leading to an interview.

Kubiak asked Leonard only a few questions during their meeting. Kubiak and Spytek sat while Leonard laid out his plan for the defense and the type of players he needed to execute his vision.

"I had some people that I wanted to talk to, but in my short time was Robbie, I was just extremely impressed with his knowledge, the backing that he had in the building [and] the relationships that he built," Kubiak said. "He had a plan. He knew what he wanted to do. ...And it just revealed itself to me that he was the right guy for the job."

Leonard is tasked with improving a defense that finished 25th in points allowed (25.4) and 14th in yards allowed (317.8). Las Vegas also struggled to get off the field, as opponents converted 46.3% of their third-down attempts.

He will attempt to do so by shifting the Raiders to a 3-4 base defense (three defensive linemen and four linebackers) after running a 4-3 under former defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the same role.

Leonard, however, doesn't anticipate a radical change because he plans to rotate players around quite a bit.

"It's a matchup league, you can't outscheme people all day, and that's really important," Leonard said. "... I don't think how we teach D-line [will be] drastically different. What's my technique? Who am I striking?

And then, in terms of 3-4 [versus] 4-3, that's just in my mind, the edge guys, who's dropping, who's rushing, which is a little bit different, but I don't think the change is as drastic as it may sound, if that makes sense."

The Raiders already had a few players in the building who perfectly fit Leonard's scheme. Safety Jeremy Chinn can play almost anywhere on the field. In his first season in Las Vegas, Chinn played 385 snaps at linebacker, 244 snaps in the slot and 258 snaps at safety.

Defensive tackle Adam Butler has played at different spots on the defensive line throughout his career, including nose tackle. He lined up at nose tackle in 903 career snaps and played a career-high 215 snaps at that position when he was with the Dolphins in 2021. Leonard was the outside linebackers coach for Miami, working under Flores, who was the head coach at the time.

The Raiders spent the offseason adding versatile players. Leonard views linebacker Quay Walker, who signed a three-year deal after four seasons in Green Bay, as an "avatar" because he can be utilized as an off-ball linebacker or line up on the edge and attack the quarterback.

"Say, for instance, I'm on the line, you never know if I'm going to drop or if I'm going to rush, whether that's to the field or the boundary," Walker said. "... I'm playing more positions than I probably ever played in my career, but this is a challenge that I'm willing to accept."

In the secondary, veteran cornerback Taron Johnson, who was traded from the Buffalo Bills in March, can play in the nickel or even line up at safety. The same can be said about rookie safety Treydan Stukes. In six seasons at Arizona, Stukes -- a second-round pick -- played deep safety, outside cornerback and in the slot.

Rookie cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Hezekiah Masses can also bounce between inside and outside.

"It gives us the chance to dictate what we're doing, where the offense doesn't have a beat on it," Woods said. "It's something [that] we're going to continue to try to [do], and there'll be some packages that we can use throughout the season to help us."

While Leonard's plan sounds good on paper, the team's success will depend on receiving consistent production from young players, such as Stukes, McCoy, Masses and even second-year players like cornerback Darien Porter and defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, who received a significant amount of first-team reps during OTAs and minicamp.