The quarterback room is a special place in an NFL organization, where bonds are made among the signal callers of a football team.
That’s where it all began for Tom Brady and Kliff Kingsbury.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion and the offensive coordinator for the Commanders have a history. Both spent time together in New England, playing for Bill Belichick and the Patriots two decades ago.
While Brady is amping up for his first Super Bowl showing as a broadcaster for Fox, Kingsbury and Washington have their eyes set on getting to New Orleans to join Brady. First, though, the Commanders must win the NFC — and Brady will be in the broadcast booth for Sunday’s conference championship game as well.
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Kliff Kingsbury-Tom Brady relationship, explained
Kingsbury and Brady crossed paths in the NFL two decades ago, when both were in Foxboro under Bill Belichick. In 2003, Brady was in his fourth season with the Patriots and third as a starter. New England drafted Kingsbury out of Texas Tech in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
Brady led a room that consisted of the rookie and Rohan Davey. Kingsbury spent the entire season on injured reserve, nursing an arm injury. He was one of the members to receive a Super Bowl ring after the Pats defeated the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
“I played with Kliff and we’ve been friends ever since,” Brady said in 2019.
Kingsbury was waived by the Patriots ahead of the following season, but the two have remained friends since then.
“I think watching him work and how almost maniacal he was about it, that that’s what it takes at that position to be that good,” Kingsbury said about working with Brady. “At times I probably was trying to just run around with Tom Brady instead of trying to be Tom Brady.”
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Kliff Kingsbury playing career
If you go to Kingsbury’s Pro Football Reference page, it would appear as though he had just one season at the NFL level. In actuality, he was around NFL clubs for four years.
Kingsbury was a sixth-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2003, joining Brady in the New England QB room. He did not play his rookie season due to an arm injury, but he did receive a Super Bowl ring for the Patriots’ victory in Super Bowl 38.
After he was waived by the Pats ahead of the 2004 season, he signed with the Saints, spending the that season on the practice squad. The next year, he attended Broncos training camp before eventually finding a spot with the Jets. He made his NFL debut in November 2005, playing garbage-time minutes against the Broncos.
The Bills invited Kingsbury to training camp in 2006, but he was cut before the season.
In 2007, he made his way to the Canadian Football League (CFL). Kingsbury initially signed with the Montreal Alouettes before he was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He was the third-string QB for the Blue Bombers for the entire season.