Raiders HC Antonio Pierce reveals true feelings on Kliff Kingsbury ditching Las Vegas for Washington OC job after Magic Johnson’s pitch

The Las Vegas Raiders are going through major changes to their coaching staff during the 2024 NFL offseason. They fired Josh McDaniels during the 2023 season and named Antonio Pierce their interim head coach. After some relative success and gaining support from the roster, Pierce was eventually promoted to the role of full-time head coach.

In his new position, Pierce will take on the job of filling out all of his assistant coaching spots, whether it be with current staff members or outside hires. He recently said during an interview on The Pivot Podcast that he believed Kliff Kingsbury would be his offensive coordinator until things changed at the last second.

Pierce said:

“I thought we had a guy, but not for long. Until you put pen to paper, man, that’s what I learned. No different than free agency ... Listen, Magic Johnson’s pretty good, I guess he can still dish it out a little bit. If I’m losing to Magic I’m okay with that, but if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be.”

According to Antonio Pierce, the Raiders were about to hire Kliff Kingsbury as their next offensive coordinator and believed that it was already a done deal. Apparently, Magic Johnson, who is now a part of the Washington Commanders' ownership group, was able to convince Kingsbury to change his mind.

The coveted offensive coordinator allegedly changed his mind per Johnson's influence and instead signed with the Commanders under new head coach Dan Quinn. Kingsbury spent last season outside of the NFL after he was replaced by Jonathan Gannon as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

During his time away, Kingsbury spent last season as a Senior Offensive Analyst with the USC Trojans. What makes this particularly significant is that he worked directly with Caleb Williams, arguably the top quarterback prospect in the upcoming 2024 NFL draft.

Many around the NFL believe the Commanders targeted Kingsbury to try to pair him with Williams. They currently have the second-overall pick in the draft, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

As for the Raiders, it's possible they were considering the same plan with Williams and Kingsbury as they are expected to be in the market for a new quarterback as well. Regardless, they were forced to pivot to a new offensive coordinator after losing their initial target.

Who is the new Raiders OC for 2024?

Luke Getsy

The Las Vegas Raiders apparently believed that Kliff Kingsbury was going to be their next offensive coordinator, according to new head coach Antonio Pierce. When they eventually lost him to the Washington Commanders, they hired Luke Getsy to fill the position. He has spent the past two seasons as the Chicago Bears' offensive coordinator working with quarterback Justin Fields.

The Bears are rumored to be potentially shopping Fields in the trade market as they are considering using their first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft to select a new quarterback.

If Fields is traded during the offseason, pairing him back up with Getsy in Las Vegas would seem to be a logical landing spot, especially with the Raiders expected to be in the market for a quarterback.