Has former Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury been somewhat vindicated?

Kingsbury, you recall, had been the head coach of the NFL Arizona Cardinals (2019-22). The Cardinals produced seasons of 5-10-1, 8-8, 11-6, 4-13. Kingsbury was fired, and oh, have the football analysts blamed Kingsbury, while mysteriously not casting much doubt on the quarterback of those Cardinals teams, Kyler Murray.

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On Tuesday, Murray was notified by the Cardinals that they are releasing him at the start of the new NFL 2026 league year, which begins in a week. Murray was quite the college athlete, the No. 1 overall pick of the Cardinals in the 2019 NFL Draft. If that was not enough, Murray was quite the baseball player as well, being drafted No. 9 overall by the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 MLB Draft.

Kingsbury has repeatedly had to endure talk of how his offense is not suitable for the NFL. His offense was said to be too pass-oriented, though the Commanders had very good rushing teams in both 2024 and 2025. Yet, after the 2025 season, Dan Quinn was determined to move on from Kingsbury.

When the Cardinals wanted to sign Murray to a new contract, there was the clause stating Murray was to study more. Talk about red flags for an NFL quarterback? Kingsbury had been the subject of so much blame, but this certainly raised new questions of what might have actually been transpiring for the Cardinals.

Kingsbury came to Washington and what a rookie season Jayden Daniels accomplished in Kingsbury’s offense. Meanwhile Murray’s career without Kingsbury? Well, it has steadily gone downward. So much so, that the Cardinals are willing to eat over $50M in a cap hit to get rid of Murray. In his seven NFL seasons the Cardinals have been 38-48-1 in games started by Murray.

So, will Murray be pursued by NFL teams as a starting quarterback? Would the Browns sign him to be their starter? Or might they give Deshaun Watson one more opportunity to earn some of that huge contract he signed? Would the Vikings and or Falcons sign him to come in and compete for their starting quarterback jobs? Would the Jets give Murray a call?

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It’s just hours since the Cardinals made the move. Perhaps too soon for Murray to know if he is willing to be a backup this year. Speaking of backups, we don’t yet know if the Commanders and Marcus Mariota are in contract negotiations to bring back Mariota for a third season of backing up Daniels.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Kliff Kingsbury vindicated by Kyler Murray move