The Arizona Cardinals signed Kliff Kingsbury to a contract extension through 2027 last March after he led the organization to an 11-6 record and their first playoff appearance since 2015. On January 9, the Cards fired Kingsbury after a 4-13 record and a 28-37-1 record across four seasons in the desert.
Now the 43-year-old former head coach is free to join any team, and there are three current franchises with an offensive coordinator vacancy, in addition to five head coach openings.
Yet, it doesn’t appear Kingsbury is eager to get back on NFL sidelines any time soon. According to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports, the former Cardinals coach is drawing interest around the league, but he’s apparently not interested in any football work right now.
Instead, Kingsbury is relaxing far, far away from any gridiron action. In fact, Kingsbury reportedly bought a one-way ticket to Thailand and has told the teams interested in an interview, “No, I’m good.”
In other words, Kingsbury doesn’t sound like someone who will be back with an NFL team any time soon. Maybe that changes in the next month or two, but chances are all the offensive coordinator positions will be long gone by that point.
With Kingsbury still being paid by Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill through 2027, he can afford to take a year off while he re-evaluates his coaching future. There’s always the possibility Kingsbury heads back to the college ranks, but with those head coaching gigs already taken, maybe he bides his time before landing another head coaching position in the 2023-24 hiring cycle.
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