Whew! Commies fans can breathe a big sigh of relief. Kliff Kingsbury announced on January 28, 2024, that he would be returning as the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders. Most Commies fans felt fairly confident that Kingsbury was eyeing a return to Washington once he announced that he would not be interviewing with any teams for a head coach position during the playoffs. That is an unusual move that signaled that Kingsbury was not eager to leave Washington.
It is the norm that assistant coaches interview with other teams for head coach positions during the playoffs. Washington’s defensive coordinator Joe Witt interviewed with the New York Jets on January 19, 2024, while the Commies were preparing to battle the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game. Given how wretched Washington’s defense was all year I am surprised that Witt even got a head coach interview with the Jets. Then again, this is the Jets we are talking about. The Jets like to zig when everyone else zags. And by zig I mean ram their head into a wall.
At any rate, after the Commies got pantsed by the Eagles in the NFC Championship game, there was only one head coach position available: the New Orleans Saints. Kingsbury wasted no time saying “Thanks, but no thanks” to Saints GM Mickey Loomis. That was a wise move by Kingsbury. Nothing is appealing about the Saints head coach position. The Saints are in salary cap hell as they are $59 million over the cap and rank dead last in the NFL for cap space. On top of that, the Saints have the combination of Derrick Carr and Spencer Rattler at quarterback. The Saints are also drafting in 9th place in the 2025 NFL Draft which means they have no shot at one of the two possible “franchise” quarterbacks in the draft. All of this made it so easy for Kingsbury to pass on this unappealing job opening.
The cherry on top of all of this is the fact that Kingsbury is still getting paid handsomely by the Arizona Cardinals until 2027 based on his head coaching contract that was extended in 2022 which pays him $7.5 million annually. Therefore, Kingsbury has no financial reason to rush to take any available head coaching job in the NFL.
Kingsbury is in an excellent position with Washington. Kindbury does not have to handle the head coaching responsibilities of managing all aspects of the team as well as constantly dealing with the media. Instead, Kingsbury can focus on his passion: coaching the QB and drawing up offensive game plans. This is Kingsbury’s happy place. Also, Kingsbury is with an NFL franchise that has a positive and healthy culture that makes it a joy to come to work.
Lastly, and most importantly, Kingsbury gets the pleasure of working with Jayden Daniels who has already proven himself to be a Top 5 quarterback in the NFL. There is no reason for Kingsbury to leave Washington unless the dream head coach position opened up for him. For example, imagine the Cincinnati Bengals do not make the playoffs in the 2025 season and then fire Zac Taylor. Kingsbury might feel like getting to be the head coach of a team with Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase is too good to pass on.
My biggest fear when Washington hired Dan Quinn as their head coach was that the team would end up with a revolving door at the offensive coordinator position and that would stunt the growth of whichever young quarterback they drafted. This is the Achilles’ heel of any defensive head coach. This is why I naturally prefer an offensive head coach who can serve as the offensive coordinator and create more consistency on a year-to-year basis. This is what hurt Dan Quinn when he was the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons.
As Kingsbury enjoyed more and more success as the 2024 season progressed my concern grew that he might leave the franchise. Thankfully, that concern never materialized into reality. Commies fans should be ecstatic that Kingsbury is staying put in Washington. This allows the Commies’ young phenom Daniels to have much-needed continuity in his second year in the NFL. The worst thing for a young quarterback is to have his offensive coordinator constantly change every season. It can disrupt the maturation process and growth of any young quarterback. Daniels getting to have Kingsbury next year will allow him to continue to grow in Kingsbury’s offense. It will also allow Kingsbury to continue to evolve his offense to accommodate Daniel’s maturation.
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