NFL Coach of the Year Award Betting – Is Kliff Kingsbury a Contender?

The 2020 NFL Coach of the Year odds are out, and Cardinals frontman Kliff Kingsbury is sitting at +1800 to win. The 40-year-old Texas native was only able to win five games during his first season in the Grand Canyon State, but Kingsbury was just getting his feet wet at the professional level.

The upcoming season should be different.

Is Kliff a genuine contender to join the ranks of the top head coaches in football, or is the Arizona fan base in line for another less-than-stellar year?

I’ll evaluate both sides of the coin as we find out if Kliff Kingsbury can win the NFL Coach of the Year award in 2020.

There are a plethora of reasons to be excited about football if you root for the Arizona Cardinals. These reasons fall hand in hand with exactly why Kliff Kingsbury could win the 2020 NFL Coach of the Year.

I could boast about Arizona’s second-year QB, but Noah Davis already depicted how Kyler Murray can win the NFL MVP in 2020. Another year in Kliff’s system should breed more efficient play, and the Cardinals traded for DeAndre Hopkins — arguably the most skilled WR in the sport.

Isaiah Simmons was the most versatile defensive player in the 2020 Draft Class and could easily win the NFL DROY. Pivoting to a defender in the first round appeared to leave Steve Keim on the outside looking in in search of a franchise left tackle, yet Josh Jones fell right into the Cardinals’ lap at #72.

Keim added depth in the trenches and a high-football IQ guy in Evan Weaver, not to mention 7^th-round pick Eno Benjamin has “sleeper status” written all over him.

A 5-10-1 record in 2019 means there is lots of room for improvement in 2020. On the flip side, it’s going to be awfully hard for Kyle Shanahan or Matt LaFleur to get recognized as legitimate NFL Coach of the Year candidates when coming off 13-3 campaigns.

I painted a pretty picture of the Cardinals’ organization, but now I’ll give you a heavy dose of reality. These are obstacles standing in Kingsbury’s way of throwing his hat in the NFL Coach of the Year conversation.

Arizona ranked dead last in the NFL, surrendering a whopping 402.0 yards/game a season ago. Vance Joseph’s unit yielded 27.6 points per contest (28^th in the NFL) and allowed opponents to convert 46.7% of their third downs (30^th in the NFL). As great of a player as Isaiah Simmons might be, he can’t transcend this group overnight. 

If you aren’t already an NFL coach/coordinator, you usually have to prove you can win at the collegiate level before you get a shot at an NFL head coach gig. Unless you are Kliff Kingsbury, who generated an uneventful 35-40 record in six seasons at Texas Tech. That includes sub-.500 records in each of his final three years in Lubbock.

Since 1991, every single team that produced the eventual NFL Coach of the Year winner has won at least 10 games. That’s the short version of saying that anything worse than 10-6 record means Kliff Kingsbury won’t even sniff the NFL Coach of the Year race.

The Arizona Cardinals’ win total in 2020 has been set at 7.5 games.

Is +1800 alluring enough to take a flier on Kliff Kingsbury winning the NFL Coach of the Year award in 2020?

All in all, I say so.

The Arizona offense has the makings of being an explosive bunch, and “up” is the only direction the Cardinals’ defense can go. I wouldn’t go breaking the bank getting a whole bunch of money down on this NFL futures bet, but a smallish wager at least prevents FOMO. 

Head to one of the best NFL bookmakers and lock the bet in now.