The Raiders thought they had their newest offensive coordinator on Friday. It was reported by several media outlets that Kliff Kingsbury was going to be the next offensive coordinator of the Raiders under new head coach Antonio Pierce. The only left to do was sign the deal.
But by Saturday morning, Kingsbury backed out of the agreement and decided to go elsewhere. And by Sunday, he had agreed to become the newest offensive coordinator with the Commanders. So how did things change so quickly?
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Raiders were unwilling to give Kingsbury a three-year deal. One of the reasons why was because owner Mark Davis is still paying two previous head coaches in Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels. Here is a snippet of what Breer had to say about the situation:
In simple terms, Las Vegas’s unwillingness to go to a third year on Kliff Kingsbury’s contract opened the door for other teams to swoop in—which the Commanders did right away, agreeing to terms with the former Cardinals and Texas Tech head coach Sunday.
There is no salary cap on the coaching staff, so the decision to be “cheap” by Davis cost them their top target at OC. The Raiders did move quickly replacing Kingsbury, inking Luke Getsy to a deal.
Things might end up turning out O.K. for the Raiders as Getsy is widely respected around the league. But the failure to get a deal done with Kingsbury is just a bad look all the way around.
