The coaching carousel is still spinning around the NFL during this conference championship weekend. NFL insider Mike Garafolo provided an update on one candidate that has been loosely linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers—former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Peter King mentioned him recently as somebody who would speak to the Steelers, though Pittsburgh insider Gerry Dulac since stated he isn’t on the Steelers’ list as of right now. Garafolo talked about interest around the league in Kingsbury on The Insiders segment of NFL Game Day.
“Kliff Kingsbury interviewed for the Bears’ and Eagles’ offensive coordinator openings. Both of those teams decided to go in another direction, but Kingsbury’s still a strong candidate to return to the NFL in 2024 in an offensive coordinator capacity,” Garafolo said in a clip posted on X by Ian Rapoport. “Now he interviewed for the Raiders job that’s still open.”
So it remains that the only person who has linked Kingsbury and the Steelers is King, and it’s possible he misunderstood the question during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan when he gave that answer. Still, Kingsbury checks a lot of the boxes that head coach Mike Tomlin listed during his end-of-season press conference a couple weeks ago related to what the Steelers are looking for in their next OC.
The Steelers have officially interviewed two OC candidates so far: former Carolina Panthers OC Thomas Brown and Houston Texans QB coach Jerrod Johnson. Neither checks every box that Tomlin is looking for, but they are young, ascending coaches in the league. The Steelers will also reportedly interview former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith today to add a third name to the list once confirmed by the team.
Kingsbury. currently an analyst for the University of Southern California’s football program, worked with QB Kyler Murray in Arizona and QB Patrick Mahomes in college at Texas Tech. He very well could end up making his way onto the list of names for the Steelers at some point, but the Raiders are reportedly taking a look at him for their OC role. He could possibly be hired before the Steelers have a chance to speak with him.
“When you talk to people around the league, they say Kingsbury is still the kind of guy that could create problems schematically for defenses,” Garafolo said. “Would not be a surprise at all if he returns to the NFL in ’24 as an offensive coordinator.”
There are eight OC openings around the NFL currently, so if the Steelers do have any interest, that news would likely come sooner rather than later.
