ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said he would like to be a head coach again but declined to say if that meant this offseason.
“At some point,” Kingsbury said when asked about his desire to be a head coach. “We’ll see how everything plays out, but I’m very happy here.”
As of now, only three NFL teams have head coach openings, including Chicago, and ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported last month that Kingsbury was among the candidates the team hoped to interview. The Bears talked to Kingsbury for their offensive coordinator opening last offseason before offering the job to Shane Waldron.
Kingsbury can’t talk to a team until three days after the team’s wild-card game. Washington (11-5) has clinched a playoff berth as one of the three wild-card teams. He declined to say if he would interview.
Kingsbury served as Arizona’s head coach from 2019-22 before being fired less than a year after signing an extension that will pay him through the 2027 season.
Kingsbury’s work in his first season with Washington — and with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels in particular — could lead to interest in other jobs that open after the season. The Commanders rank fourth in yards and fifth in points — the first time they’ve been top-10 in each category since 2012. The organization had not ranked better than 20th in either category since 2017.
Daniels has thrown 25 touchdown passes, rushed for six and was named to the Pro Bowl. He’s part of the reason Kingsbury isn’t in a hurry to leave, multiple people close to Kingsbury have said
This has been an awesome place and has really helped me rekindle my love for the sport,” Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury spent 2023 as an offensive analyst with USC, where current Bears quarterback Caleb Williams played.
Kingsbury said being around Washington coach Dan Quinn has helped him see what he needed to do better.
“I don’t think I set the foundation [in Arizona] the way I would do it after watching DQ and how he set the foundation from day one,” Kingsbury said. “These are the standards, this is what we want, this is what we’re going to be. I definitely could have done a better job of that and kind of once you don’t lay it out like that, it’s hard to put it back in.”
