This week, win or lose, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will have opportunities to interview for head-coaching jobs. If they win, it won’t be his top priority.
Per a league source, Kingsbury might ultimately decline one or more of the interview requests. (He might even decline one or more if they lose.)
Kingsbury, who coached the Cardinals for four years, has no financial urgency to become a head coach again. His buyout from the Cardinals runs into 2026, at mid-level head-coaching compensation. This allows him to wait for the right spot to open.
Waiting for the right spot to open becomes even more important for coaches who are working on a second opportunity. And it’s easier to wait when the candidate is confident that the window won’t be closing.
Considering what the Commanders have done in the first year of Dan Quinn’s tenure, there’s every reason to think the window will remain open for Kingsbury. Beyond the quick ascension of quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Commanders will have $100 million to work with in 2025. And now is the time to load up with veterans, since Daniels is two seasons away from being eligible for his second contract.
For now, the Bears and Saints have submitted interview requests for Kingsbury. The Jaguars could get involved this week, too. At the end of the day, Kingsbury will be in no hurry to leave. He’ll make head-coaching money into 2026 even if he’s not a head coach. He can wait for the right moment to be a head coach again.
And he possibly could do it after winning a Super Bowl ring with his current team.
During the latter months of the regular season, Jon Gruden’s name was emerging as a potential candidate for a 2025 head-coaching job. A full week into the coaching carousel, however, his name has not been mentioned in any report linking any team to any candidate.
Because he’s not currently employed by any NFL team, the usual procedure of submitting a request for permission to speak to a candidate doesn’t apply. And there can be conversations with Gruden without anyone knowing.
It would still be odd for Gruden to be in play and for no one to leak it, especially at a time when anyone and everyone is talking a blue streak now, Jack. It helps Gruden to have his name out there. If a team is looking for a new coach and it hears that another team is looking at Gruden, the first time might suddenly be interested in Gruden, too.
There’s one caveat to this. As of last week, talk was making the rounds that Gruden’s agent, Bob LaMonte, has been telling people that Gruden already has a job in hand. And while that might be bluster and bluffing, there’s a non-zero chance it’s true — and that at the right time the pursuit will become public.
Still, it’s hard to imagine any team hiring any candidate that no team has been linked to. To date, no specific team has been linked to Gruden.
The Bears have been looking up at the Lions in the NFC North the last couple of years and part of their plan to catch them could include hiring a current member of their coaching staff.
The Bears announced that they completed interviews with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn on Saturday. Both of the coaches are popular names on the interview circuit this winter.
Johnson and Glenn also interviewed with the Jaguars on Sunday. Johnson previously interviewed with the Raiders and Patriots while Glenn has met with the Raiders, Saints, and Jets.
Glenn turned down an interview request from the Patriots, so both men have wrapped up all of their expected interviews and will now turn their full attention to their current team’s first playoff game.
One of the hottest names in this year’s coaching cycle has officially interviewed with another team.
The Jaguars announced on Saturday afternoon that they’ve completed their first interview with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Johnson, 38, has also interviewed with the Patriots, Bears, and Raiders.
Given that Johnson is in demand as a candidate, Trent Baalke’s presence as Jacksonville’s General Manager could affect Johnson’s overall interest in the Jags’ head coaching job. But Johnson at least took the interview while the Lions were on their bye week.
Jacksonville has also announced interviews with Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has interviewed for the Jaguars’ head-coaching vacancy.
The Jaguars announced on Friday night that they completed an interview with Spagnuolo.
Spagnuolo is widely viewed as one of the best defensive coaches in NFL history, with four Super Bowl rings as a defensive coordinator. His previous head-coaching experience, however, was a major disappointment, when he went 10-38 in three seasons as coach of the Rams. He also spent four games as interim head coach of the Giants, going 1-3.
The 65-year-old Spagnuolo has been the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator since 2019.
