The New York Jets might be interested in chasing an old fling.
ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler said Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is a name to watch for the green and white for their head coaching vacancy this cycle.
“Keep in mind, Kingsbury was down the road with the Jets in 2019 before he took the Arizona job, so New York could double back with him,” Fowler explained.
A HC candidate to keep an eye out for the #Jets in 2025 is #Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury.
ESPN #NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler said to “keep in mind” that Kingsbury “was down the road with the Jets in 2019 before he took the Arizona job, so New York could double back with him.”
On… pic.twitter.com/VOgKnJAI3E
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) January 2, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
During the 2019 head coaching cycle, the Jets interviewed Kingsbury.
He was described at the time as “a highly regarded offensive mind” who was “responsible for shaping two of the league’s hottest quarterbacks. Kingsbury coached both [Cleveland] Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and [Kansas City] Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes while at [Texas] Tech,” Jeremy Bergman wrote for NFL Media back in January 2019.
Kingsbury, before becoming a coach, played the quarterback position. He played at the NFL level, in the CFL, and in NFL Europe.
“Kingsbury has history with the Jets. He attempted his only career passes in the NFL as a member of the Jets in 2005. One fell incomplete; the other was a 17-yard completion to Dante Ridgeway,” Bergman revealed.
Kingsbury is Interested in Dipping His Toes Back Into the NFL HC Waters
In 2022, the Arizona Cardinals moved on from Kingsbury as their head coach. He had the gig across four seasons and finished with a 28-37-1 record. After some time away serving in other coaching roles, Kingsbury appears ready to become a head coach once again.
“At some point,” Kingsbury said when asked about his desire to be a head coach via John Keim of ESPN. “We’ll see how everything plays out, but I’m very happy here.”
Fowler said Kingsbury will be “selective” and won’t just take any head coaching opportunity.
“He’s still getting paid head coach money from Arizona and gets to coach [Jayden] Daniels on a Washington team that should be even better next season,” Fowler added.
Kingsbury has been coaching football since 2008. He exclusively stayed at the collegiate level from 2008 through 2018.
With the Houston Cougars, he served as an offensive quality control coach, quarterbacks coach, and co-offensive coordinator from 2008 to 2011. In 2012 he served for a season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas A&M.
From 2013 through 2018, he served as the head coach of Texas Tech. During that six-season run, Kingsbury finished with a 35-40 record.
Kingsbury Would Check Off a lot of Boxes For The Jets
A Kingsbury-Jets marriage would make a lot of sense.
He is an offensive coach, the Jets have only had one offensive-oriented head coach since Woody Johnson bought the team in 2000. Kingsbury has a history of developing quarterbacks from Mayfield, to Mahomes, to Kyler Murray, and Caleb Williams in college.
After his head coaching stint with the Cardinals, Kingsbury served as a senior offensive analyst with USC and most recently has served as the Commanders OC.
2024 has been a special season for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels who is the favorite to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Speaking of the Commanders, Kingsbury said he has learned a lot from Dan Quinn as a head coach in how to install a program.
“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 told ESPN via Keim. “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.”
Comments
Jets Connected to Former NYJ QB, Offensive Wizard for HC Gig