Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury met with the media on Thursday where he discussed his future. He was asked if he wanted to be a head coach again and if he planned to interview with interested teams during the upcoming coaching carousel.
Kingsbury acknowledged he’d eventually like to be a head coach again, but he was happy in his current role.
Kingsbury also discussed the Commanders’ amazing turnaround this season, praising players such as Jayden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Chris Rodriguez Jr., and others. He also discussed wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus’ recent surge in productivity. Over the last two games, Zaccheaus has caught 13 passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns. He also had another touchdown called back due to a questionable holding penalty.
The 5-foot-8 Zaccheaus has been exactly what Washington needed with injuries to players like Noah Brown, Austin Ekeler and Dyami Brown. Kingsbury said he was “blown away” by how talented Zaccheaus was in training camp and figured it was only a matter of time before he contributed.
Yeah, it’s just his number’s being called with Noah going down,” Kingsbury said. “The opportunity has been there; he’s gotten more reps, and he’s a guy that, in training camp, I was blown away by just how talented he was inside and outside.”
Then, Kingsbury relayed a funny story about Zaccheaus’ nickname.
“I actually used to call him Oz for the first like two months of knowing him,” he said And nobody would tell me that his name wasn’t Oz, even him. And so, one day Dyami comes up, he’s like, ‘Yo, dude he really doesn’t like Oz.’ I’m like, ‘Well, it literally says OZ.’ He’s like, ‘It’s OZ.’ So, it’s like the whitest mistake ever [laughs]. But he has forgiven me and he’s played really well, but great person, works really hard and it’s cool to see him take advantage of his chances.”
Here’s Kingsbury in video form, courtesy of Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.
Kliff Kingsbury on Olamide Zaccheaus: “I actually used to call him Oz for like the first two months of knowing him. … It was like the whitest mistake ever.”
pic.twitter.com/muc5ekHFkN
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) January 2, 2025
Zaccheaus has been solid all season but has really stepped up recently when the Commanders needed him the most. Zaccheaus may have earned himself a longer tenure in Washington as another player on a one-year contract. In addition to Kingsbury, he’s also earned the trust of Daniels.