Kliff Kingsbury backs out of consideration to be Raiders' OC

ByABC News
February 3, 2024, 12:59 PM

Kliff Kingsbury has withdrawn from consideration for the Las Vegas Raiders' offensive coordinator position, his agent, Erik Burkhardt, told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Contract talks broke down after sources told ESPN on Thursday that Kingsbury was expected to be hired under coach Antonio Pierce.

Kingsbury, 44, was one of four candidates who interviewed for the vacant position during the past two weeks, along with Luke Getsy, Alex Van Pelt and Mike Sullivan. Van Pelt has since been hired to be the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator.

Kingsbury worked last fall with USC's  Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, as the Trojans' quarterbacks coach and senior offensive analyst. Kingsbury also drafted Kyler Murray when he was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and coached Patrick Mahomes in college when he was the head coach at Texas Tech.

The Raiders went 8-9 last season, with Pierce as the interim coach benching incumbent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and inserting rookie Aidan O'Connell. Pierce guided the Raiders to a 5-4 finish, including going 3-1 against AFC West opponents and a win at the conference champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Information from ESPN's Paul Gutierrez was used in this report.