Kliff Kingsbury attempted to use pal Sean McVay’s wedding for payback.
The Cardinals coach, attending his Rams counterpart’s nuptials over the weekend, jokingly tried to convince star defensive tackle Aaron Donald to retire and Cooper Kupp, the NFL’s top receiver, to hold out in his chase of a payday.
“I told (Donald), he’s accomplished all he can accomplish and it’s a great idea to go out on your own terms, all that,” Kingsbury told reporters on Thursday. “And I told Kupp, I was basically like, ‘I know you and Sean are friends, but stop taking that McVay discount, hold out for the first three weeks and get something sorted out.’
“You can tell that did not work out either.”
Donald and Kupp signed monster contracts this week to stay in Los Angeles: Donald scored a reworked three-year deal worth $95 million while Kupp’s extension will pay him $110 million over the next five seasons.
The NFC West rival coaches have some hijinks in their history. In 2019 McVay convinced Kingsbury they had committed tampering for having dinner with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.
“We have a mutual friend that I put his name in my phone as (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell,” McVay said on “The Adam Schefter Podcast” in 2019. “I had this friend send me a text saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re at dinner with Kingsbury and Mahomes. You know better than this. This is tampering. You’re both losing picks.’
“I showed Kliff the text, and he saw a ghost. I said, ‘You better call [GM] Steve Keim right away.’ He said, ‘I thought I was going to lose the No. 1 overall pick.’
“We couldn’t let it go on too long, but it was pretty good. We got him good.”
Despite their good-natured ribbing, Kingsbury was happy for his pal — and amazed at his wedding to Veronika Khomyn.
“He’s got a lot more money than me, I’ll start at that point,” Kingsbury said with a smirk.