Kliff Kingsbury is reportedly headed to the Washington Commanders, and we won’t spend a lot more time talking about his brief stint as the expected offensive coordinator of the Raiders.
That being the case, a new detail was reported on his failed negotiations with the Raiders, and it came from Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer.
According to Breer, the major hangup between the Raiders and Kingsbury was the length of his contract…
“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.”
To be fair, if the Raiders were only offering Kingsbury two years on his deal, it makes sense why he would decide to walk away. On the other side of the argument, if the Raiders were only offering him a two-year deal, they must not have wanted him very bad – or there’s more to the story.
More than likely, there’s just more to the story.
Most coordinators are given three-year deals when they join a team, and that’s the reason the Raiders were able to block Patrick Graham from accepting any lateral interviews after his second year in Las Vegas. Graham has at least one more year remaining on the deal given to him by Josh McDaniels.
It’s water under the bridge now, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense why the Raiders would only offer Kingsbury a two-year deal if they wanted him. Maybe that happened, and maybe it didn’t.
Just a guess, but the ‘two-year narrative’ was probably the simplest path for both sides to walk away without taking any kind of public relations hit.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Didn’t need Kliff Kingbury for another fail attempt to lead the Raiders in the wrong direction. As last time and everywhere he goes. Fool me once shame on U. Fool me twice shame on me.
I believe that narrative is just that a narrative. My 1st thought is that Klingbury wanted assurances from Raiders that they would go get Caleb Williams, Raiders were unwilling to give up the farm.