It’s become clear that, if nothing else, Bill Belichick is interested in Kliff Kingsbury and the “Air Raid Offense” brought from Texas Tech to the Arizona Cardinals.
But does that mean there’s a realistic chance Kingsbury could join the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff this offseason? Not necessarily.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recently reported that New England has shown some level of interest in Kingsbury, who was fired by the Cardinals on Monday. And, with Belichick reportedly ready to make major changes to his coaching staff, Kingsbury is a name worth watching even as Bill O’Brien appears to be the favorite to replace Matt Patricia as play-caller.
Breer offered additional insight during a Wednesday night NBC Sports Boston appearance while providing an extra note on how Belichick feels about Kingsbury.
“They absolutely made phone calls on him,” Breer said. “I know that they’ve done their research on Kliff. … It’s more background stuff. They haven’t contacted Kingsbury directly, to my knowledge. But I do know they’ve done some homework on him. I think Bill does have a level of fascination with what Kingsbury’s done. For as much criticism as he got for the way his offense runs, the Cardinals were as creative as any team in the league. They were very difficult to deal with because they did so many things differently than NFL teams do them.”
Breer then threw cold water on the idea of Kingsbury joining the Patriots this offseason.
“I think the issue is Kliff’s a little burnt out right now. I think the last year was really hard on him. He’s due $30 million over the four years. He can make that much money, if he wants to go globetrotting, whatever, won’t matter — he’ll make that money. So, I think Kliff might be more of the mind to take a year off. But I think he’s somebody the Patriots certainly have turned over rocks on.”
Unfortunately, it might be a while before we gain a true sense of how Belichick will approach reshuffling his coaching staff
Multiple reports Wednesday indicated the Patriots head coach might not fire anyone, instead reassigning staffers while taking time to publicly reveal his full vision. Don’t be surprised if we don’t gain much clarity until sometime during the spring.
As for Kingsbury, the former Patriots quarterback certainly is an interesting candidate, but his potential hiring might be more a pipe dream than reality.
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