New Orleans has some interest in the Commanders’ OC.
According to Albert Breer, Senior NFL Insider for the MMQB, the New Orleans Saints‘ next set of head coach interviews will take place this Friday and Saturday. Among the candidates is Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.
The Saints’ next set of scheduled interviews comes this Friday and Saturday, when they’ll sit down with Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, Eagles OC Kellen Moore and Bills OC Joe Brady, per sources.
Of course, they could bring now-ex-Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy in before then, too.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 13, 2025
It wouldn’t be his first time in an NFL head coaching chair. Back in 2019, the Arizona Cardinals hired him as their HC, where he would stay for four years. Before that, he was a head coach over at Texas Tech University for six seasons. While in Arizona, Kingsbury had the opportunity to coach Kyler Murray. At TTU, he coached Patrick Mahomes II and Baker Mayfield.
With all three of those players finding success in the NFL, his credibility has risen considerably. However, Kingsbury’s troubles start showing up when you look into his team records rather than individual players.
In his 10 years of head coaching, he has only had two winning seasons, with the latest one being a decade ago while he was at TTU in 2015. At TTU, Kingsbury had an overall record of 35-40. While head coach of the Cardinals, his record was 28-37-1.
In fact, it was after a 4-13 season that he was let go by Arizona. Afterwards, Kingsbury would take a year off from the NFL and return to college football as USC’s senior offensive analyst. There, he would coach Caleb Williams and help lead the Trojans to a bowl game with an 8-5 record.
In February of 2024, Kingsbury would be hired by the Washington Commanders as their new offensive coordinator. And with the Commanders, he has found success, helping lead them to their first playoff appearance since 2020. Jayden Daniels, the Commanders rookie quarterback, has also been playing like the offensive rookie of the year.
Kingsbury is not at the top of my list, and I think that he needs another year at OC before trying to be a head coach again. However, he wouldn’t be the worst hire in my opinion. His young offensive mind is valuable, and I’m sure he could find success in the Crescent City.
Saints fans can get a closer look at Kingsbury Saturday night in the Commanders divisional round matchup against the Detroit Lions.