Kliff Kingsbury has helped the Washington Commanders offense become a high-powered attack in 2024. JP and Tobi discuss the chances of Washington's offensive coordinator leaving to re-claim a head coach job next season.
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00:00It's very obvious to me that Cliff is going to get interest from around the league as a head coach.
00:05He had some success in Arizona as a head coach.
00:10He clearly has a track record with quarterbacks.
00:14Developing the quarterbacks is the most important thing to do in the NFL.
00:18He obviously has the connection with Caleb Williams.
00:21They were at USC together.
00:23Credit to Nikki Jabala, she dug this up.
00:26Caleb Williams, this is something, got asked about Cliff Kingsbury earlier this week.
00:33Caleb Williams said, I've been around Cliff.
00:35I know what type of guy he is.
00:36I know that he loves football.
00:37I know that he wants to win.
00:38He's a competitor.
00:40In many different aspects that I was just speaking about, I've been around him.
00:44I would say that being around him, knowing him, asking him questions and things like that,
00:47I think obviously if he was here, I'd probably have more to say.
00:50I think he fits a bunch of those qualities that I said.
00:55Jayden has talked about Cliff's competitive side and how important all that stuff is.
01:01There is a lot of reasons to like Cliff Kingsbury, and I think it's pretty darn obvious
01:07this is going to be a big factor when the season ends, should they choose,
01:14should he, first of all, he has to choose to accept the interviews, right?
01:17Exactly, and he's going to be selective.
01:19You hear all the Ben Johnson stuff about him being selective.
01:21I think Cliff's going to be selective because he understands what kind of scenario he's got here.
01:25It's a good one.
01:26You don't want to just immediately jump ship and then go somewhere else
01:29and then fall on your face again.
01:30I think he's going to want to be selective, understanding that he's going to have a quarterback.
01:34He's going to have unity like you're seeing in this organization now.
01:37So I think overall he's going to be selective.
01:40I wouldn't be surprised if it's down the line, but at the same point, too,
01:42we were talking a little bit off air about this.
01:44Cliff, I don't think, wants to deal with all the extra stuff that comes with being a head coach.
01:48Totally.
01:49And so he's going to have to be fully sold on wherever he goes.
01:53Not to say that that doesn't come after another year,
01:55but it would not shock me one bit if he's got some opportunities this year,
01:59but he turns them down because he wants another year here to kind of enjoy the fact that, like,
02:03being a head coach is so much extra stuff.
02:06Here, he gets to focus on the offense, he gets to focus on the quarterback,
02:09and he talks to us once a week.
02:11Right.
02:12I think he enjoys that.
02:13Well, and not everybody might know this, but the way coaches' contracts work,
02:17they're fully guaranteed.
02:18And so after Cliff took Arizona to a playoff berth in 2021, I believe,
02:24he got an extension on his deal.
02:26So he's still getting paid like a head coach.
02:28So that also changes.
02:30There's not going to be – money's money, right?
02:32You can always throw more money at it, whatever.
02:34But it's not like – a lot of NFL assistant coaches, maybe not OCs,
02:39but a lot of these guys are maybe making $400,000, right?
02:42So the first time they get that opportunity to go make a mil and a half, that changes things.
02:46Cliff's making plenty of money.
02:48Cliff's probably making $5 million a year or something.
02:51So I don't think the financial incentive will be the push that it would be
02:55for other coaches in other situations.
02:58He's getting paid by Arizona, I believe, through the end of the 26th season.
03:02So the offsets are there.
03:04So it's not going to be a pure financial thing.
03:06And then it's so easy and perhaps even lazy to be like,
03:09oh, well, him and Caleb Williams.
03:11Mostly him and Caleb Williams have a relationship, and that matters.
03:16But he didn't have a relationship with Jaden.
03:18He told us that – I asked him last week or something about,
03:21has anything with Jaden ever surprised you?
03:23And he's like, yeah, I watched the tape, and it was some of the best I've ever seen,
03:27but I never knew the dude.
03:28Now I know the dude.
03:29I know what a great guy he is.
03:31If you're Kingsbury, and the jobs that are going to be open that we definitively know about –
03:37Bears, Jets, Saints, Jackson, I guess those three for sure,
03:43and then a bunch of others, maybe New England,
03:45maybe probably Jacksonville, maybe the Colts.
03:50There's jobs out there, right?
03:51Maybe Dallas.
03:54Are any of those that appealing?
03:55I don't want to – the Bears organization is a dumpster fire.
03:58And that right there is it.
03:59I don't know.
04:00The Kevin Warren, Ryan Poles, terrible ownership.
04:03No thanks, man.
04:04That exactly right there is it.
04:06I think if Chicago were open, I think it would be intriguing,
04:08obviously with the connection with Caleb.
04:10But would you want to go there if you don't know for a fact that the GM's there long term?
04:15Do you want to go there if you don't know who's actually calling the shots
04:18and just the dysfunction that you see there?
04:20Maybe you could fix Caleb Williams, but if you can't get everything else in order,
04:23when you've got a good situation you're in,
04:25that's something that hasn't been able to be said here for potential head coaching candidates.
04:29You're in a perfect situation here where there's alignment with ownership,
04:33with the front office, with the coaching staff.
04:35So he's not going to leave unless he thinks it's a really, really good opportunity.
04:40And I don't know that I see any this cycle that are screaming great opportunity,
04:44especially when you look at Chicago.
04:46That might just go to Ben Johnson.
04:48And I know he's pulling some strings behind the –
04:50trying to maybe move on from Poles.
04:52And who knows if it ultimately goes to him.
04:54But if Ben Johnson's doing that, you think Cliff wants to deal with that as well
04:57to take that job?
04:58Probably not.
04:59Right.
05:01Wasn't Cliff in the running for the Bears OC job with Iberflues?
05:04He was.
05:05And then whatever happened there?
05:06Like whether that was Iberflues or Warren or Poles or ownership or whatever,
05:11like I just – the Chicago thing would not interest me.
05:15I don't think Cliff's at all interested in being somebody's second option.
05:21Cliff doesn't strike me as a consolation prize kind of fella.
05:24And if they're all in on Ben Johnson, like I recognize the talent Caleb has.
05:30And nothing is more intoxicating for NFL coaches
05:35than a super talented quarterback.
05:37But, dude, the only job definitively I would lead for if I was Cliff Kingsbury,
05:43and it is hardly – it is hard to say that this will definitely come up.
05:48If the Bengals' job comes up, you sprint.
05:51You sprint to Cincinnati.
05:53That's the only definite to me.
05:55There is something to be said.
05:57I do not like how Ben Johnson approached things this offseason.
06:00But I think there is something to be said with creating a name
06:03and then you have some pull.
06:04Cliff Kingsbury, think about if he comes back another year, JP, and they improve.
06:08He'd be the top dude on the market, right?
06:10Like he'd be the dude that everybody is going after, and you'd have your choice.
06:14You'd have some say.
06:15Maybe you'd get a few extra bucks on top of it.
06:17So there is something to be said.
06:19Like if you don't want to leave for an opportunity this year,
06:21which I kind of get the feeling unless something changes
06:23that he's going to be back next year.
06:25If he comes back next year and you improve and Jaden takes another step
06:29and maybe you get a chance at one of the top quarterbacks coming out
06:32in the next draft and you can draft a guy and bring him in, I don't know.
06:35I think that might be more intriguing to him than just saying, like you said,
06:39do you really want to be option number two behind Ben Johnson for Chicago?
06:43Probably not.
06:46If you're looking at jobs that will likely become available,
06:51if Cincinnati becomes available, that's an all-out sprint.
06:54And they could probably get whoever they want.
06:56The chance to work with Burrow is just intoxicating.
06:58I also think I see Detroit run the hook and ladder
07:03and the running back fall down play.
07:06Like Detroit is the offense they're running up there is spectacular.
07:12I don't know that it's a given Ben Johnson's going to be successful
07:15wherever he goes.
07:16I think there's far too much of an assumption there.
07:18I think he has proven to be at least a little squirrely
07:22with how he handled this operation last year.
07:25The way it went with Carolina the year before wasn't the most glowing reviews.
07:29You're allowed to be squirrely if you're awesome.
07:31You can be a jerk.
07:33You can be whatever you want as long as you're awesome.
07:36But Dan Campbell is such a human force of nature
07:42that that team has total buy-in on a level
07:45that allows for awesome offense to be created.
07:49I don't know that you can create the Dan Campbell human tornado without him.
07:55If when Ben Johnson takes a job, I'll be fascinated to watch it.
07:59But I think for the film nerds that just get erect
08:03watching Ben Johnson call plays,
08:05I think it's hardly a given that that's going to work on his own.
08:08And by the way, to a lesser extent and not as crazy and meathead
08:12like Dan Quinn's done that here.
08:14He's got buy-in from everybody.
08:16Everybody talks about Quinn that way.
08:18So it's a different style, but everybody feels that way.
08:21So Cliff doesn't have to go anywhere to feel like he's in a perfect spot.
08:25Yeah, I think it's like during the Redskins glory years,
08:31Joe Gibbs had Richie Pettibone kind of forever.
08:34I don't remember exactly, but it seemed like Pettibone
08:37was the defensive coordinator the whole damn time.
08:40And it worked so well, and finally Joe stepped down,
08:43and Richie got a year, and it went bad.
08:45But that doesn't happen anymore.
08:48I don't think Cliff's going to be here for 10 years as the OC.
08:51No.
08:52I think he could be back again next year.
08:54A lot of times it's dudes that have failed multiple times
08:57or it went so bad the first time that end up like that.
09:00Like Spagnolo's going to be in Kansas City for who knows how long
09:03because he never gets interviewed anymore.
09:05But it always seems to happen. Cliff's not there.
09:07But he also realizes, what Spags realizes now in KC is,
09:10yo, this is pretty dope, and I'm winning Super Bowls,
09:13and maybe I want to...
09:14Exactly right.
09:15It would have to be the perfect job to leave.
09:17If you listen to Cliff and read some of the stuff he said
09:20about understanding the difference in his life,
09:23he said Washington working with Jaden
09:26made him rediscover his love of football.
09:29That's not lip service.