Reports say the Raiders are likely to hire Kliff Kingsbury, who used to be the head coach of the Cardinals, as their offensive coordinator.
It is said that Antonio Pierce has found a new offensive coordinator. ESPN says that the Raiders of Vegas are likely to hire Kliff Kingsbury, who used to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, as their subsequent offensive coordinator.
A few big names were interviewed by the Raiders for this job. NFL Media says that Vegas talked to Chip Kelly, who is now the head coach of UCLA, at least twice, yet chose Kingsbury instead.
The 44-year-old interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chicago Bears, and the Pittsburgh Steelers all for the job of offensive coordinator.
King was fired by Arizona in January and worked as a sports analyst at USC this past season. He was with the Cardinals for four years and went 28-37-1. After going 11-6, they made the postseason in 2021.
In his debut NFL season, Kingsbury went 5-10-1. In the next two years, he added three more wins to his total. Then things went wrong in 2022. Arizona had a 4-13 record and finished last in the NFC West.
Kingsbury was head coach at Texas Tech before that and the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M the year that Johnny Manziel won the Heisman.
When Josh McDaniels was fired by the Raiders in the middle of last season, Pierce took over and made the defense better right away.
It was the best defense in the league from Weeks 9 through 18. The Raiders gave up an average of 16 points per game. In terms of offense, Vegas had the sixth-worst distance per game (289.5) and the tenth-worst points each game (19.5).
NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo said Thursday that Kingsbury, who used to be the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals, is likely to be hired as the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders.
As soon as Antonio Pierce became the Raiders’ full-time head coach, his staff had to figure out who would be in charge of the offense. It was answered by Kingsbury, who is 44 years old.
Kingsbury was the Cardinals’ head coach from 2019 to 2022. In his first NFL job, he went 28–37. Kingsbury is back in college for one more year as an offense analyst and QB coach at USC. He will now try to improve the Raiders’ season and his career in the NFL.
Kingsbury became famous for coaching a university team and helping Baker Mayfield as well as Patrick Mahomes get better.
So, he was provided with the chance to do that with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. In the end, Kingsbury only got the Cards into the playoffs once in four years.
When it comes to quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo is still under contract but didn’t play when Pierce took across as interim coach.
This is where the biggest question mark lies. In his first season, Aidan O’Connell had some good moments, but he didn’t prove himself as a team’s future quarterback.
Kliff Kingsbury, who used to coach the Cardinals but worked for USC in 2023, might be going back to the NFL.
Several news sources say that the Raiders will hire Kingsbury as the team’s new offensive coordinator. He will work with new coach Antonio Pierce.
Kingsbury would join Pierce as the second former NFL head coach to do so. Marvin Lewis, a longtime Bengals coach, was hired as a temporary head coach earlier today.
Kingsbury, who is 44 years old, was the Cardinals’ head coach for four years. He was the coach at Texas Tech for six years before that. In both, he had a score below 500.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo says the team will likely hire Kliff Kingsbury, who used to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, as their new offensive coordinator. Kingsbury will work under newly promoted head coach Antonio Pierce.
The Chicago Bears, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Philadelphia Eagles were also said to have interviewed Kingsbury. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said that the Raiders talked to UCLA head coach Chip Kelly twice before choosing Kingsbury.
The biggest job open in Las Vegas was offensive coordinator, but current defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was likely to stay after interviewing for head coaching jobs.