Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is once again a prominent name in head coaching rumors, thanks in large part to the work he has done with Washington’s rookie phenom, Jayden Daniels. The presence of the young passer could compel Kingsbury to remain in the nation’s capital and to eschew possible HC opportunities.
When asked earlier this month if he was ready to field questions related to his head coaching candidacy, Kingsbury smiled and said, “it would take a lot to leave this kid” (via ESPN’s John Keim). Of course, the “kid” in question is Daniels, who was effusive in his praise for his OC.
“He’s meant a lot, obviously, for my development and my growth from the day I stepped foot here to this point now,” Daniels said. “Just to be able to see and get to learn the type of person Kliff is on and off the field, it’s only helped our relationship grow.”
Keim’s expansive piece is well-worth a read for Commanders in particular, and in it, Kingsbury offers a few candid remarks as to why his first head coaching job with the Cardinals went south. He also says that working under Washington HC Dan Quinn has driven home the lessons he learned from his struggles in the desert.
“I don’t think I set the foundation [in Arizona] the way I would do it after watching [Quinn] and how he set the foundation from day one,” Kingsbury said. “These are the standards, this is what we want, this is what we’re going to be. I definitely could have done a better job of that.”
Following his Arizona ouster, Kingsbury travelled for several months and realized that, despite the struggles he endured at the end of his Cardinals tenure, he wanted to return to football. He served as a senior offensive analyst at the college level for USC in 2023 before accepting the Commanders’ OC gig this past offseason.
As Keim observes, Kingsbury’s role allows him to focus on running an offense and building a relationship with players, which are the aspects of the coaching profession that he enjoys the most. And the success that he and the club have had in the first year of the Daniels era – Washington posted a 12-5 record and qualified for the postseason – have led some to wonder whether he would want to dive back into the head coaching ranks so soon.
Indeed, reports from earlier this month suggested that, while Kingsbury does want to be a head coach again at some point, he may not be in a rush to leave his current position. And…