After reports yesterday that former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury was a leading candidate in Washington after deciding not to take the job in Las Vegas, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Kingsbury has agreed to become the next offensive coordinator for the Commanders. The team has now announced the hire.
Three days ago, the NFL world was under the impression that Kingsbury would become the next offensive play-caller in Las Vegas. That story changed yesterday with Kingsbury informing multiple people in the Raiders organization that he would not be joining the team. After a reported “contractual hang-up,” the Commanders swooped in, setting Kingsbury in their sights. Reportedly, Kingsbury was aiming for a three-year pact, and the Raiders only made a two-year offer. Per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, Washington awarded Kingsbury the three-year contract he desired.
New Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was one of five defensive-minded coaches to assume a new head coaching role this offseason. With the former offensive coordinators who took head coach jobs in Tennessee and Carolina planning to call plays for their respective offenses, it only made sense that Kingsbury would set his focus on the five other teams. With the Falcons and Patriots already having filled their roles, that left Vegas, Washington, and Seattle.
Another reason Washington makes sense is because, though it seems like an uphill battle right now, there’s still an outside chance that USC quarterback Caleb Williams could end up in DC with Kingsbury. Williams has long been considered the favorite to go No. 1 overall in this year’s draft. Though Chicago currently holds the rights to the top pick in the draft, the Commanders brass have made it clear that they have an interest in acquiring Williams. With Kingsbury’s most recent position being as a senior offensive analyst at USC over Williams, the new play-caller could be manifesting a reunion in Washington with his former college quarterback.
If not, Kingsbury will be tasked with righting the ship in Washington. Second-year quarterback Sam Howell was deemed the starter coming into 2023. For a team that spent a good amount of time behind, the Commanders depended a lot on Howell’s arm, resulting in the young passer leading the league in pass attempts. Unfortunately, the one-dimensional nature of the team’s offense led to Howell also leading the NFL in sacks taken, interceptions thrown, and pick sixes.
In Washington, Kingsbury will hope for better health in 2024 as he works to improve a porous offensive line. Antonio Gibson is set to be a free agent, but Brian Robinson and rookie running back Chris Rodriguez are both set to return for Kingsbury. Two of the team’s top receivers, Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, will be back with a potentially re-tooled supporting cast as Curtis Samuel, Jamison Crowder, and Byron Pringle are all set to test free agency.
Kingsbury will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to turn around an offense that finished 25th in points scored and 24th in yards gained. He may have the benefit of working with some new faces, but regardless, he should have a decent arsenal of weapons to help Quinn win some games in DC.
Interesting choice
Bienemy fell out of coaching world.
Biennemy had a very poor year with the Redskins this year. He has a reputation of not getting along with players. Without Mahommes as his qb, he actually has to coach, and apparently that isn’t his longsuit!!
I’m not that big of a Bienemy fan, but you have to admit players contribute as well. Even Andy Reid performed significantly better with Mahomes than without. Washington had a terrible offensive roster last year and I don’t think Bienemy had any chance of fixing it.
How many coordinators survive a coaching change and ownership change?
That is a good point. As far as getting another o c job, Biennemy wasn’t a contender for any of the oppenings. He was the “Rooney Rule” interview, to validate the real candidates!!
I think having Commanders stench on him means he needs to wait a year. He barely interviewed this time around.
That is true. He may get a job next year, but it won’t be based on merit.
That’s nonsense. He was Andy Reid’s chief lieutenant for years. This idea that he must not merit a job because of the Rooney Rule or because he spent one year with a late round sack magnet QB playing from behind with a bad line is garbage.
No it isn’t. He had a great qb in Mahommes, and an overall oustanding offensive roster. This was his first year outside of K C, and it went very poorly. Biennemy has quite a bit to prove after this year. I wouldn’t doubt he gets a job next year, but it won’t be a merit based job!!
The Chiefs offense was a mess full of sloppy mistakes for much of this year without him.
He can return to KC and Matt Nagy has been awful.
The media was begging for this guy to get a head coaching job. Maybe, just may, when someone doesn’t get a job, it is because maybe he wasn’t that good.
Ah yes, because NFL hires have been so consistently shown to be directly correlated to merit.
Well, hopefully he can spread his wings as a schemer and playcaller compared to what he did in Arizona. I’m skeptical that this means Washington is landing Caleb Williams any more than hiring Hackett meant the Broncos were landing Rodgers.
There’s a good chance the Commies/Redskins will get Caleb Williams, as Chikago may decide to take BPA, as Justin Fields desperately needs a WR partner. The Commies may decided to sweeten the pot with a second or third round pick to swap places, with the understanding the Caleb Williams is their target, to avoid seeing Chikago swap places with someone else.
That would be low value for Chikago if they wanted to trade out of the first pick, but effectively Chikago would still get the player they wanted plus a pick.
If the Commies spend an RGIII fortune to move up one spot in the draft, the new management group will prove themselves to be as short-sighted and fascinated by shiny objects as Dan Snyder and it will be time for Redskins fans to give up on NFL football or choose another team.
The only way the Bears trade with the Redskins is if Poles decides to take Drake Maye ( I hope he does). The only possibilities to go #1, #2 in this draft, are Williams and Maye, in either order. Fields will be traded well before the draft.
The only possibilities to go #1, #2 in this draft, are Williams and Maye
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As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the Kingsbury signing could be huge for the Bears. As you mention, only one of two things can happen.
1-They prefer Williams and they draft Williams.
2-They prefer Maye and then they “reluctantly” trade down. With Kingbury putting some pressure on the FO to trade up for Williams, the Bears could once again clear the table for the overall #1.
The Commies would be crazy to trade away much to get Williams when Maye is just a good a prospect or better. Size does matter in the NFL, many linemen are very tall.
I don’t think Fields has done enough to stop the Bears from taking a top QB prospect and restarting the contract clock.
It isn’t even about starting the “qb clock” over. Fields has been one of the worst starting qb’s in the league for three years running. This is an exceptional qb draft, so there is no decision to make. Even in a weak qb draft year, the Bears would still have had to grab the best qb in that draft.
It absolutely has a lot to do with the contract clock.
That is an added bonus. Williams projects to be much better as a rookie than Fields in his fourth year. Poles knows that by keeping Fields that he would be fired after the 2024 season.
as Justin Fields desperately needs a WR partner.
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He needs someone better than Moore?
Unless the Bears draft Maye, the Redskins will. They are both top notch qb prospects, head and shoulders over the ” second level”!!
It kind of looks like The Josh Harris Group took a direct shot to the nether region from Ben Johnson. It was the first time the ownership group was told “No” or have not gotten their way. Had to hurt that Ben Johnson waited to text his rejection until the brain trust was in the air.
Seems like the Josh Harris Group are now making quick decisions to wrap things up. They probably want everything in place before the Super Bowl since any rejections after next Sunday will remain in the news until the draft.
Anybody else get the feeling the Bears not taking Caleb Williams and he will be in DC with Kingsbury ?
No
The only way the Bears don’t take Caleb is if he refuses to go to Chicago. And he’s already said he’s OK with the Bears.
The Commanders must think KK can work well with Drake Maye.
That is about the size of it!! K K has the reputation of knowing how to develop promising young qb’s. Drake Maye may wind up being better than Williams. I would prefer the Bears draft him #1, but I think Poles is picking Williams, unless something strange comes to light.
At this stage of the hiring coaches cycle, this is home run for the Commanders…Kingsbury has a proven track record of working/winning with Manziel, Mahomes, Kyler and Caleb…he just needs to focus on the offense, not the bigger picture HC stuff..I think we/ the Commanders have done an excellent job, so far, retooling our staff!!
Just remember that last preseason, many people from the Cards said Kyler called a better game than Kliff did.
KK is the most overrated offensive guy in football.
he will regret going to Washington. and I’ma thinking he will get fired after two seasons as Washington will suck balls as per norm and he will be used as scapegoat
Redskins.
0-17
I am usually not interested in coordinators’ salaries, but I am curious to know how much was enough for the Raiders to not hire Kingsbury.
I don’t think the decision had anything to do with money and despite all the other problems they have, the Raiders aren’t as financially tight fisted as some other teams. We saw Mark Davis throw big money at Gruden but obviously he wasn’t that impressed with Kingsbury.
Kingsbury is probably looking for stability, as I suspect the Raiders will be looking for a quarterback and a new head coach about this time next year.
Washington, on the other hand, will have a shiny new QB prospect to work with and probably at least 2-3 years of Dan Quinn at the helm.
Washington makes a lot more sense for KK. He’s either working with Maye or Williams, and should look good. With the Raiders, he might be working with Penix or Rattler.