National Football League

Antonio Pierce hints that Magic Johnson lured OC Kliff Kingsbury to Commanders

Published Feb. 19, 2024 4:44 p.m. ET

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce seemingly confirmed reports that Magic Johnson played a role in convincing Kliff Kingsbury to become the next Washington Commanders offensive coordinator after Kingsbury had reportedly agreed to fill the same role with the Raiders.

NFL Media first reported that Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers and NBA legend who is now part of the Commanders' ownership group, played a role in luring Kingsbury. Pierce brought up Johnson when asked by fellow ex-NFL player Ryan Clark about Kingsbury during a recent episode of Clark's podcast, The Pivot.

"N-F-L — not for long," Pierce said with a chuckle. "I thought we had a guy, but not for long. Until you put pen to paper, man, that's one thing I learned. It's no different than us [players] in free agency, right? Teams are recruiting you, things are going on.

"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 OK with that."

The 45-year-old Pierce grew up in Southern California while Johnson was leading the "Showtime"-era Lakers to five NBA titles in the 1980s, so he knows quite a bit about Johnson's allure. Kingsbury, for his part, declined to answer a question at his introductory press conference with the Commanders last week about his agreement with the Raiders and Johnson's involvement in bringing him to Washington.

Johnson's alleged involvement comes on the heels of reports that Commanders ownership was heavily involved in the team's coaching search after hiring new general manager Adam Peters. The search reportedly targeted Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson before landing on Quinn, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator.

Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech and Arizona Cardinals head coach who spent last season back in college football as a senior analyst with USC, had been heavily courted by several teams as an offensive coordinator before joining the Commanders.

His decision to join Washington has also fueled speculation that the Commanders might target Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and consensus top 2024 NFL Draft prospect whom Kingsbury worked closely with at USC — and who is a Washington, D.C. native.

The Commanders have the No. 2 pick in April's draft, so any shot they have at taking Williams depends on the Chicago Bears being willing to pass up the highly-regarded prospect at No. 1 overall.

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After Kingsbury backed out of his agreement with the Raiders, Las Vegas hired former Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy instead. The Raiders are also potentially in the market for a quarterback after solid-but-unspectacular play from fourth-round rookie Aidan O'Connell in 2023, but due in large part to their late-season surge under Pierce as interim head coach after Josh McDaniels' midseason firing, Las Vegas is not picking until the 13th selection in the upcoming draft.

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