Over the course of the 2024 season, the Washington Commanders went from being a group of nobodies and retreads to their own, unique galaxy of stars.
Among that group was a familiar face in a familiar role — offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury making his return to the NFL for the first time since he was fired as the Arizona Cardinals head coach after going 4-13 in 2022.
Kingsbury’s return to glory included him becoming a head coaching candidate for several NFL openings, including the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. Ultimately he decided to return for at least one more season in Washington working with Pro Bowl quarterback Jayden Daniels.
There is, however, a school of thought — and Kingsbury’s own history — that might lead us to believe he isn’t the driving force behind the offense we think he is.
“I feel like (Kingsbury) had a good season last year, I will give him credit,” The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia said on June 17. “I do think he got more credit (than he deserves) … he doesn’t deserve too much credit. Sometimes you luck into a quarterback … but I absolutely will give him credit that it was a better version of him than I’d seen in Arizona. I’m open to people changing. Sometimes you take a year off, you come back, you get some new ideas, it humbles you a little bit. But I want to see it again.”
Kingsbury’s History of Getting Off to Fast Starts
In Kingsbury’s 2 head coaching stops, with Texas Tech and the Cardinals, there’s a history of his teams getting off to good starts and not being able to sustain momentum.
With Texas Tech, Kingsbury went 8-5 in 2013, his first season, including a win in the Holiday Bowl. It would end up being his best record and only bowl win in 6 seasons coaching the Red Raiders — despite having 2-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback for 3 seasons from 2014 to 2016.
In 2021 with the Cardinals, Kingsbury led his team to a 7-0 start — the franchise’s best start in 47 years — but finished 11-6 and ended the season with an embarrassing, blowout loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Kingsbury’s Biggest Role: Mentor to Daniels
While Kingsbury’s title is offensive coordinator, his most important role on the team is mentor to Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
As a rookie working under Kingsbury, Daniels was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and led the Commanders to their best season since 1991. Daniels also did things that made Kingsbury look good other quarterbacks simply don’t have the capability to do. That included setting the NFL rookie quarterback record with 891 rushing yards.
Seeing how Daniels fares in 2025 and if the Commanders can stay Super Bowl contenders will be one of the NFL’s biggest storylines.
The Commanders also went out and addressed one of Daniels’ biggest weaknesses in 2024 — short passes — by trading for arguably the NFL’s premier short-pass-and-run player in wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who has averaged 11.4 yards on short passes over the last 5 seasons.
DEEBO SAMUEL AGAIN WOW!!!
50 YARD TOUCHDOWN
