Will Kliff Kingsbury leave Washington for a HC job? I BMitch & Finlay Show

WJFK-FM / 106.7 The Fan

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.

Transcript

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.

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