Former Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury was hired by the Washington Commanders just days after he spurned the Oakland Raiders.
Three months after Kliff Kingsbury was fired by Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill back in January 2023, the Texas native jumped back into the college ranks. The 44-year-old accepted a gig at USC, working with top-ranked quarterback Caleb Williams. Many observers believed Kingsbury was back in his comfort zone at the collegiate level and that his days as an NFL coach were over.
As it turns out, the prognosticators were wrong.
On Feb. 5, Kingsbury accepted an offer to become the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders. That news is quite surprising, considering the fact Kingsbury had accepted the exact same position with the Las Vegas Raiders just last week.
Apparently, Kingsbury reneged on his "agreement" with the Raiders. The Texas native had yet to sign his name on the dotted line of a contract, although everyone involved thought it was a done deal. So why did Kingsbury go back on his word and decide he'd be better off with the Commanders?
Grooming quarterbacks is the speciality of the former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury
When Kingsbury became the Cards head coach back in 2019, the organization was armed with the draft's first overall selection. The grand prize that year was signal-caller Kyler Murray, a University of Oklahoma product who had been the apple of the coach's eye for quite some time.
Now, five years later, Kingsbury will be given another chance to work his magic with whichever passer (likely Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels) the Commanders draft with this year's second overall pick.
There's also a possibility that Kingsbury hopes to meet up with Williams again in Washington. To make that happen, the Commanders would most likely have to persuade the Chicago Bears to part ways with the first overall selection. That could be considered a longshot, but the odds of Kingsbury reuniting with Williams would've been much longer had he accepted the offer from Las Vegas.
The "Silver and Black," coincidentally, have significant question marks at quarterback. Uninspiring veteran Jimmy Garoppolo was benched in the middle of last season, leaving fourth-round rookie Aidan O'Connell to take over as the starter. The Raiders could end up drafting a signal-caller with the 11th overall choice, but moving up in Round 1 to grab one of the top-rated passers would require some major wheeling and dealing.
Kingsbury changing his mind about a job he had just agreed to is not a rare occurrence. The Texas Tech University alum was hired by USC to be the team's offensive coordinator back in December 2018, just weeks before a better career opportunity presented itself. He ended up spurning the Trojans for the Cardinals, resigning from his position with the school a mere 34 days after he was hired.
It's obvious Kingsbury doesn't believe in bad karma. Backing out of jobs just a short time after accepting them is not a good look for Arizona's former on-field leader. The Commanders obviously weren't bothered by Kingsbury's wishy-washy nature, but the Raiders can't be happy with the suddenly popular offensive guru.
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