There was no Kliff-hanger ending to the Las Vegas Raiders short-lived Kliff Kingsbury experience. It was an abrupt plot twist worthy of pro wrestling-creating writing, actually. A swerve, if you will.
Expected—keyword “expected”—to be tabbed as the Silver and Black’s new offensive coordinator, the USC senior offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach withdrew himself from consideration to run Las Vegas’ offense. Reports began to hit the wire shortly after Adam Schefter dropped the news bomb about the reason why. One of the most circulated: contract talks stalled.
See below:
A contractual hang-up led to there being an opening on Kliff Kingsbury, and the Commanders are among the teams that swooped in to try and hire Kingsbury as offensive coordinator. Kliff-to-DC is in play. https://t.co/I1MDgsvr8h
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 3, 2024
The Kingsbury-Raiders connection seemed like a done deal…
Then it wasn’t. Las Vegas was drawn to Kingsbury for his creativity, reportedly, and was head coach Antonio Pierce’s choice to concoct an effective offense in the desert. As soon as the reports that Kingsbury and the Raiders marriage was coming to fruition, another newsbit arrived that Chip Kelly, UCLA’s head coach and former Philadelphia Eagles head honcho, was the runner-up after interviewing twice for the gig. Perhaps the Raiders go back to that well? Interestingly enough, Kelly was linked to the Washington Commanders, the team that is now the frontrunner to land Kingsbury.
I’ve said in jest that Kingsbury likely spurned the Raiders once he was told the team was giving Aidan O’Connell a serious run to be QB1 in 2024, but it’s highly likely Kingsbury’s choice to bolt is quarterback driven. He coached Caleb Williams at USC, and the signal caller is projected to be a Top 5 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Washington owns the second overall pick and doesn’t have a franchise-type QB on the roster. You can probably connect the dots.
The Raiders moved forward quickly…
Surprisingly enough, team brass moved quickly this weekend. It wasn’t that long after the Kingsbury development hit the newswire that names started to surface for the Raiders. Eric Bieniemy, Pep Hamilton, and others began to make the rounds. However, none of those turned out to be the choice. Luke Getsy is expected to be named the new offensive coordinator.
As you can imagine, the reaction from Raider Nation was swift. Some see it as a colossal failure to have let Kingsbury walk away. Others are playing the wait-and-see game. What say you, Raider Nation?
Let us know in our live X poll below.
What grade would you give the Raiders for hiring Luke Getsy as OC?
— RaiderRamble.com™ (@TheRaiderRamble) February 4, 2024