Arizona Cardinals head coach, Kliff Kingsbury backs out of the offensive coordinator job for the Las Vegas Raiders. Kingsbury has officially withdrawn consideration for the job after contract negotiations broke down. He was one of the four candidates interviewed for the vacant position in the past two weeks, along with Luke Getsy, Alex Van Pelt and Mike Sullivan. It’s an interesting turn of events that’s shocking the NFL.
Kingsbury leaves the Raiders without a contract and it’ll be interesting to see what Las Vegas head coach, Antonio Pierce does now. He was an intriguing candidate as he worked last fall with USC’s Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner. Kingsbury was the Trojans’ quarterbacks coach and senior offensive analyst at the time. He also coached the Chiefs’ star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes when he coached at Texas Tech.
The Raiders were getting a top candidate, but that all fell out now. Las Vegas went 8-9 last season with Pierce taking over as interim coach, benching Jimmy Garoppolo and inserting Aidan O’Connell. Pierce helped the Raiders to a 5-4 finish, including 3-1 against AFC West opponents. Now that Kliff Kingsbury leaves the Raiders, they’re moving again to bring in another potential candidate.
This doesn’t mean that Kingsbury won’t return to the NFL. He finished his tenure with the Cardinals, going 4-13 after four seasons with the team.
A twist in Las Vegas: Kliff Kingsbury has withdrawn himself from consideration for the offensive coordinator job of the Raiders, per his agent @ErikBurkhardt. pic.twitter.com/IKmSPT7PaM
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2024
Kliff Kingsbury Leaves the Raiders Without a Contract Agreement
An Interesting Twist of Events
Even though Kliff Kingsbury leaves the Raiders without an agreement to be their next offensive coordinator, it’s still shocking to the league. Many insiders and sources were anticipating Kingsbury to take the vacant position. Now, Kingsbury is “in play” for other jobs like the Washington Commanders’ vacancy at offensive coordinator. However, a close contract agreement suddenly just fell out after Kingsbury was the frontrunner to be the Raiders’ next offensive coordinator.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few days for Kingsbury. The Cardinals are the only NFL team that he has worked for, working with 12 seasons of coaching experience at the college level. This hasn’t stopped any NFL team that needs to fill in a hole in their coaching staff and they’ll still consider Kingsbury. The surprising development leaves the Raiders with more questions than answers.
It is considerably shocking for Las Vegas to witness this turn of events, but they still have options. They could be in talks with UCLA head coach Chip Kelly for their vacant offensive coordinator job. Kelly is still searching to find a team and could easily land there if contract negotiations don’t break down again. Kingsbury now has options of his own to make in the next few weeks.
The Options Are Laid Out
The options are laid out for both parties, Kingsbury and the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s interesting now, according to Adam Schefter, Kingsbury is now the leading candidate to become the Commanders’ offensive coordinator. It looks like it could happen after Dan Quinn is constructing a staff in preparation for the NFL 2024 Draft. It would be a great hire assuming the Commanders draft USC’s Caleb Williams with the No. 2 pick.
Kingsbury has been out of the league since 2022 and this would put the pieces to the puzzle together for a reunion. Barring any circumstances, Washington might consider taking the jump to snag Williams if they hire Kingsbury as offensive coordinator. Current Washington Commanders offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy has one year left on his contract, but could change soon.
Kingsbury’s experience coaching and working with young quarterbacks could attract Washington to hire him as the next Commanders offensive coordinator.
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