Shortly before he was hired to be the Washington Commanders' offensive coordinator, multiple media outlets reported that Kliff Kingsbury was about to take that same role with the Las Vegas Raiders. Everything seemed to be a done deal.
It was not. Adam Peters and recently-hired head coach Dan Quinn made Kingsbury a counter offer and the former Arizona Cardinals head coach accepted with a helping hand from Magic Johnson along the way.
Kingsbury has never discussed the specifics of what led to his apparent change of heart. Respect for Quinn and the direction of the new regime in Washington almost certainly was a major factor. The Commanders’ No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft may have been an even bigger one.
The play-caller knew Peters would be selecting a high-profile quarterback. Few coaches in the NFL have Kingsbury’s track record with developing signal-callers.
Kingsbury coached Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield in college. He got sensational production out of Case Keenum and Johnny Manziel. He has worked with Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams. That's not a bad résumé to call upon.
Some analysts felt that Williams took a slight step back during his season with Kingsbury and that Murray never blossomed into a champion, but there may have been other reasons for those outcomes. Even his detractors recognized the coach's talent with quarterbacks.
Commanders hit the jackpot by luring Kliff Kingsbury from the Raiders' grasp
The other common assumption was that once he landed in Washington, the new offensive coordinator would push the Commanders to move into position to draft Williams. That did not happen.
Kingsbury took on a new potential star in Jayden Daniels and coached him to one of the finest seasons a rookie quarterback has ever had. The Heisman Trophy winner deserves the lion’s share of the credit. Coaches like Tavita Pritchard, David Blough, and Brian Johnson helped out quite a bit. But it was the play-caller who designed the zone-read-heavy offense that took advantage of his new quarterback's skill.
Running zone-reads with a player like Daniels is nothing special. Kyle Shanahan did it in 2012 with Robert Griffin III to great effect. But Kingsbury also recognized early on that his quarterback had extraordinary poise and was a serious student of the game.
He spent a great deal of time preparing. That allowed Kingsbury to install a no-huddle offense which kept defenses off balance.
That type of trust in a rookie quarterback is unusual for a coach. It is one of the reasons Kingsbury has had such success and one of the reasons he turned out to be the perfect hire for the Commanders.
There were other reasons.
Kingsbury was not an especially successful head coach in Arizona. But his offenses — until his final season — steadily improved. His experience as the head man no doubt gave him a different sense of how to run an offense.
Despite the presence of Daniels, he had a tall order coming to D.C.
More than 50 percent of the roster was turned over during the offseason. Eighteen players were on the field for more than 20% of the Commanders' offensive snaps in 2024. Eleven of them were new to the team.
An entirely new quarterback room. Two new running backs. Three new receivers. A new tight end. And three-fifths of the offensive line — including a rookie at the all-important left tackle position — had never played together before.
It essentially took Kingsbury one game to get everyone on the same page. After a subpar opening day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Commanders' offense would not even punt for the next two contests.
When problems arose, Kingsbury resolved them.
In the second game against the New York Giants, despite moving the ball at will, Washington’s red zone offense was dismal. They had to rely on seven field goals to win. A week later, they scored five touchdowns.
When Daniels suffered a rib injury in the middle of the season, his coaches taught him how to slide and when to get out of bounds. By the time the injury healed, the former LSU star was making much better decisions about running the ball.
Kingsbury made sure to get the most out of the best player he had outside of his quarterback. Terry McLaurin saw a slight drop in targets in 2024, but that is only because Washington was much better balanced than in 2023. They threw the ball 100 times more under Eric Bieniemy.
McLaurin’s target share, receptions, and receiving yardage all went up. His touchdowns skyrocketed. His longest catch went for just 48 yards in 2023. The second-team All-Pro had six catches of better than 50 yards under Kingsbury's guidance.
Brian Robinson Jr. and Jeremy McNichols posted career-high rushing totals. Zach Ertz had his best season since 2021. Olamide Zaccheaus equaled his best season. Dyami Brown turned into a bona fide playmaker.
Kingsbury’s success in designing his offense and calling plays resulted in top 10 finishes in yards, points, yards-per-play, first downs, rushing yards, passing and rushing touchdowns. They were second to the Detroit Lions in the percentage of drives that resulted in scores.
The Commanders were sixth in third down conversions, and overwhelmingly first on fourth downs, converting an astonishing 87 percent on the year. For context, the Buffalo Bills, with Josh Allen under center, was second at 74%.
Grade
The coordinator's performance in 2024 will probably get him another shot at the top spot somewhere, but Kingsbury announced that he intends to stay in Washington for at least one more season. He likes his current situation, and the feeling is mutual.
Kingsbury’s grade for his first season in Washington is an A+.
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