Kliff Kingsbury Ranks No. 2 in NFL Hot Seat Rankings
It gets pretty warm in the desert, but there's no matching how hot the seat is for Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Kingsbury first arrived to Arizona as a promising offensive play-caller that has worked with stud quarterbacks and found ways to light up scoreboards at Texas Tech. Even after being fired, Kingsbury somehow fell forward to the ranks of an NFL head coach.
The Cardinals have slowly progressed from No. 1 overall pick to a postseason appearance under Kingsbury, but things have stalled in 2022. Arizona has failed to meet expectations by quite a lot.
The job security of Kingsbury has been heavily discussed since it became very apparent the Cardinals weren't going to turn the ship around, and a loss to the Chargers today could amplify that noise heading into Arizona's bye week.
Bleacher Report puts Kingsbury just under Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett in their hot seat rankings:
Kliff Kingsbury Ranks No. 2 in NFL Hot Seat Rankings
"During the offseason, the Arizona Cardinals signed both Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim to extensions," said David Kenyon.
"That is a complicating factor, for sure. But a 4-7 start to the 2022 season with one of the league's least explosive offenses is making the calculation less difficult to understand.
"At this point, the question isn't as much if the Cardinals are willing to set fire to many millions to dismiss him (and maybe Keim) as much as whether they can afford to keep Kingsbury. It seems clear that either he or quarterback Kyler Murray needs to leave for Arizona to have a reasonably fresh start, and Murray just inked a $230.5 million contract that is far more burdensome to move.
"It's possible the Cards attempt to make the pairing work in 2023. The best versions of Murray and Kingsbury are electric.
"The risk, however, is that little improves next season and Arizona wasted another year delaying a fix to what emerged as a problem late in 2021 and has become a glaring issue in 2022."
The Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts have already moved on from their original leaders thus far. More movement is expected as the season grows longer.
Kingsbury edged out Lovie Smith, Brandon Staley and Josh McDaniels to round out the top five. Kevin Stefanski, Dan Campbell and Ron Rivera were named as honorable mentions.
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