With the Washington Commanders now eliminated by the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, their offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has been freed up to complete interviews with teams for coaching positions. And one of the teams that expressed interest in him is the last one remaining: the New Orleans Saints.
Kingsbury did have the option to do a preliminary interview a few weeks prior, however he choose to focus completely on the playoff run, which is admirable. Washington came within a game of the Super Bowl largely due to his work with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Now he has the choice to either stick around with Washington and keep trying to build behind that roster, or look towards the future and find another head coaching position for himself.
The biggest question is whether Kingsbury would even consider becoming a head coach again, especially with the Saints, as they are one of the tougher situations to navigate in the current NFL landscape. They do not have a top-five pick to get a new quarterback that he may want, and they are in the red pretty deep with negative salary cap space. Even if they get out of that cap mess, they will not be perfect. The roster is also aging pretty heavily and not particularly talented outside a select few players, which makes this an enormous task to step up to.
Ultimately, the Saints have also been rejected by other suitors, with Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady and the new head coach of the New York Jets Aaron Glenn both taking virtual interviews before deciding against pursuing the Saints with in-person meetings. With the Saints having five other candidates outside Kingsbury, it feels likely that he will opt to stay with the Commanders, really build up some legacy, and get his pick of the openings next year, wherever they may be.
