A weekend report indicated Kliff Kingsbury would not be a lock to return as Commanders OC. Despite his offense helping Jayden Daniels to Offensive Rookie of the Year acclaim in 2024, Kingsbury is indeed out in Washington.
The sides are parting ways, with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero classifying it as a mutual decision. After the Commanders pried Kingsbury from the Raiders’ grasp in 2024, the former Cardinals HC will be a coaching free agent again. Multiple OC options are set to present themselves, with Pelissero adding Kingsbury is drawing HC interest as well.
[RELATED: Commanders Fire DC Joe Whitt]
The weekend offering from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini indicated Kingsbury and GM Adam Peters were not seeing eye-to-eye. This separation will stand to make Kingsbury a coveted OC option, and it will be interesting to see which teams reach out regarding head coaching interviews. While this gives Kingsbury more options, the Commanders will now throw Daniels into a new offense.
This separation comes after a Kingsbury meeting with Dan Quinn, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler adds it comes after Daniels gave his OC a strong endorsement. Other members of Washington’s offense were “blindsided” by the move, per insider Jordan Schultz, who adds key players on offense are disappointed in this decision.
Daniels dazzled as a rookie, separating from a deep QB class. Daniels’ breakout season booked the Commanders into the NFC championship game for the first time in 33 years. The former Heisman winner’s sophomore NFL slate, however, became an injury-riddled slog. Daniels suffered three injuries and played in only seven games. In those seven games, his completion percentage cratered compared to his rookie year — from 69.0 to 60.6 — and his yards per attempt dropped to 6.7.
Still, Kingsbury was viewed as a high-end HC commodity last year — even on a market that included Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson. The resurgent staffer opted to stay with Washington, preferring his place coaching Daniels. It is difficult to say Kingsbury’s stock has dropped too far. The Titans are interested in meeting with him to discuss their HC position; an interview request is expected. Kingsbury, 46, will now be free to meet about that job in-person at any time. The Giants have also expressed interest, likely giving a dismissed coordinator at least two HC interview opportunities.
While Matt Nagy resides as a likely frontrunner to reunite with Mike Borgonzi in Tennessee, Kingsbury also brings second-chance HC appeal as a coach who has helped two quarterbacks to Pro Bowls. Although Kyler Murray struggled in 2022, Kingsbury guiding the Cardinals’ dual-threat option to first-ballot Pro Bowls in 2020 and ’21 has aged well given the passer’s mid-2020s standing. Daniels gliding to Rookie of the Year honors on Kingsbury’s watch also bolsters the coach’s prospects to land on his feet — especially on a market thin on offensive-minded HC candidates.
It certainly should not be considered a lock Kingsbury receives another HC opportunity during this cycle, but with six vacancies and limited options for OC types, he could be the ultra-rare coordinator to be let go and land a top coaching job.
Kingsbury does have a history of unusual coaching transitions. Texas Tech fired him after the 2018 season, leading him to USC as the planned Trojans OC. But the Cardinals instead hired the ex-Patrick Mahomes college mentor as their head coach. Kingsbury went 28-37-1 in four Arizona seasons, guiding the team to the playoffs in 2021 but finishing 4-13 in 2022.
That led the Cards to fire him despite authorizing an extension months earlier. Kingsbury coached QBs at USC in 2023, allowing him to tutor Caleb Williams that season. Kingsbury then came close to a Raiders OC agreement in 2024, but after Las Vegas only offered a two-year deal, Washington’s three-year offer convinced him to back out of negotiations with the AFC West team.
Washington should see no shortage of interested candidates for its OC position, and after a 5-12 showing, Quinn needs to tab a quality option. The Commanders’ largely Daniels-less season brought a 27th-place finish in scoring and last-place ranking in yardage. The season also featured Terry McLaurin missing extensive time. Washington’s 2025 rankings figure to ding Kingsbury, but his previous work will certainly appeal to teams.
Snake oil salesman
I think I have loose change hidden in my sofa that is worth more than any NFL “endorsement”.
Either way, you’ll still be looking for your quarterback.
In my defence, I’d be willing to settle for a good nickel.
Kingsbury gets paired with a highly talented quarterback, gets credit for early success, and then doesn’t adapt to personnel or other teams figuring out what he’s predictably doing. Rinse and repeat.
Injuries did them in. McLaurin was a major disappointment after holding out. I felt they should have ran the ball more.
Multiple things can be true. I think their roster building approach has been a mess. No excuse to have the oldest roster in football, have so few picks and signed players entering the offseason, and for the roster to not look better short term all at the same time.
Yeah, Peter’s was in high demand for several cycles, but I can’t really figure out what his plan is in Washington. Perhaps he wants to implement a system type approach, but the McLaurin negotiations seemed pretty drawn out for a team that was coming off a season of hope after a promising rookie QB campaign. You’d think that they’d want to enthusiastically build around Daniels instead of playing hardball with his best target.
If they didn’t want to do that, because of McLaurin’s age, a trade would have both helped the system approach by nabbing picks and perhaps led to a younger WR1 selection. They didn’t do that, either. Daniels of course got injured, and didn’t look good when he played, so this next year is really going to be important in dictating his career trajectory-and with it, the trajectory of Washington’s current regime as a whole. Seizing defensive playcalling duties midway through your second year, and then firing/parting ways with both coordinators at its end, is really not telegraphing a good situation in Washington at the moment.
Yeah, I would have understood trading McLaurin… if they did it much earlier, when they had time to secure another top target and could also get a proper bidding war for him. I would also understand not wanting to shell out a big deal for an aging vet… if they hadn’t traded for Lattimore’s contract, traded for Tunsil, and signed Javon Kinlaw for wacky money.
Agreed to all points. I can see explanations for the moves individually, but when meshed together, it just seems like a hodge-podge of oddities that don’t flow into a coherent picture.
In contrast, look at a team like Houston. They got their quarterback and decided to heavily invest in also getting a young edge, then also went out and got a big ticket free agent edge rusher when it looked clear they had their QB. But since then they’ve also done steady work in accumulating *more* draft picks. I have issues with some of how Houston has managed things (the offensive line comes to mind), but they’ve done a very good job of keeping an eye on the present and the future at the same time.
Don’t really understand the hype and shiny new toy appeal with Kingsbury. A one year wonder coach. Doesn’t last long wherever he coaches. Probably back to coaching college.
He can produce yards for an offense pretty easily, especially with young QBs-but, as Oof said above, he seems to have trouble adjusting midyear or after defenses catch on to the clues. They always do much better between the red zones than they do in the red zone. It’d be odd to call his offense versatile, but inflexible, but I think that would be how I would marry the concepts of Kingsbury being prolific and yet ultimately unsuccessful.
His offense doesn’t transition to the NFL. He has early success and then defenses catch up with him and adjust. And then it goes downhill fast.
I don’t disagree. I’ll give him credit for innovations to gain yards, which he can do better than many, but it still isn’t really pro caliber he always struggles finishing where it counts.
If we can’t get kubiak Brady or Stefanski I wouldn’t cringe at a kingsbury hire
His scheme looks good for a season or half and then makes no adjustments. He should go back to college.
I wonder how Sean Payton would feel with him on the staff.
who better to resuscitate watson’s career .. andrew berry would like to welcome kliff to cleveland
Dan Quinn needs to get it right with the OC,.DC and other assistant coaching positions or he will be gone in January 2027. Quinn is likely at the top of the hot seat list beginning the 2026 season…
Raiders will certainly request an interview with Kingsbury again, but this time for HC. And it might be tempting for him given that they hold the top pick in the draft and will certainly be taking a QB. (Mendoza)
Baltimore if Todd Monken gets a head coaching job
harbaughs refusal to fire monken was apparently part of the reason for the separation. wouldn’t count on him returning.