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One way to reboot your career on any level of football after falling flat as a head coach is to go back to your coordinator roots and show everyone you’re still a winner.
Through 7 games of the 2024 regular season, that’s exactly what Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has done, emboldening his reputation as a “quarterback whisperer” as rookie Jayden Daniels has played like an NFL MVP candidate.
That’s why Kingsbury might get another chance as a head coach sooner than later, with the The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz asserting Kingsbury is headed in that direction after Daniels went out with a rib injury against the Carolina Panthers and backup Marcus Mariota stepped in for a seamless transition on the way to a 40-7 win in Week 7.
“I’m going to award the head coach of the New York Giants job to Kliff Kingsbury after today,” Ruiz said after the Commanders improved to 5-2 with the win. “I think Kliff is getting a head coaching job. I don’t know if you guys are ready for that or not, but Kliff is returning to head coaching next year. Marcus Mariota comes in (against the Panthers) and it looks like the same offense as with Jayden Daniels … if we do see Mariota come out and do this again I think Kliff Kingsbury is going to re-earn that ‘QB Whisperer’ badge.”
Kingsbury’s Career: History of Failing Upwards
Kingsbury’s career to this point has largely been defined by his ability to fail upwards.
After successful stops as an offensive coordinator at the University of Houston and Texas A&M, Kingsbury was named head coach at Texas Tech in 2013.
Kingsbury was fired after 6 seasons in which he went 35-40 overall despite having either 2018 NFL draft No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield or 2-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback for four of those seasons.
Kingsbury didn’t stay unemployed for long. The Arizona Cardinals named him their head coach almost immediately after he was fired and he coached the Cardinals from 2019 to 2022, going 28-37-1 with a 4-13 record in his final season. He spent 2023 as an offensive analyst at USC before landing with the Commanders as part of the new regime under head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters.
Giants Have Lame Duck Head Coach With Daboll
One thing that seems almost certain at this point is that the Giants will be looking for a new head coach following this season — if not before the end of the year — with Brian Daboll seemingly on his way out the door.
Following a cringe-inducing run on HBO’s offseason version of the documentary series “Hard Knocks” in 2024 and the Giants off to a 2-5 start in the 2024 regular season, Daboll’s time as an NFL head coach should be coming to an end soon.
After Daboll went 9-7-1 in his first season in 2022 and advancing to the NFC Divisional Round, the Giants followed that up by going 6-11 in 2023.
Like Kingsbury, Daboll’s biggest successes have come as an assistant coach, where he won 5 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, won a CFP national championship as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017 and oversaw the ascendence of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021.
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