Despite being one of the top offensive coordinators in the NFL, Eric Eric Bieniemy has still not yet landed a head coaching job. But he might still be on the move from the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason.
The Washington Commanders announced on Thursday that they are interviewing Bieniemy for their current offensive coordinator opening.
Bieniemy has been the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator for the past five years, a run that has seen the Chiefs play in three Super Bowls and win two of them. The offense has been the driving force behind that success, never finishing lower than sixth in points scored during Bieniemy’s tenure.
They finished first on two different occasions, including the 2022 season.
Despite all of that success, and despite being interviewed for a handful of head coaching jobs, Bieniemy has yet to land a head coaching job. And now he is looking at potentially making a lateral move with another team.
Even though that is not the step up that Bieniemy might be hoping for at the present time, there is still a chance that taking another job will benefit him.
For starters, there is the chance of a pay raise. Assistant coach contracts are not really public knowledge, but given his reputation and track record he could command a significant pay raise with a new team.
By taking a job with a team like Washington there is also the possibility that he could be positioned to be next in line there if the Commanders make a coaching change at some point in the near future. The only way Andy Reid is going to be out of a job in Kansas City at this point is if he decides to walk away. And despite some talk about his future going into the Super Bowl, he has not really shown any interest in actually doing that.
In Washington, however, Ron Rivera is on a much shorter leash. In three years as the Commanders head coach Rivera has yet to have a winning season, and only made the playoffs one time (his first year on the job) with a 7-9 record. They also missed out on a chance to make the playoffs this year by fading down the stretch with a 1-3-1 record over the final five games of the season.
If they get off to a slow start and want to make a change, a top assistant would be the first choice.
There’s also the possibility that working with a new team could quiet speculation about how much of the Chiefs’ success was the result of Reid and players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and how much should be credited to Bieniemy.
So while going from Kansas City to Washington in the same role might seem like a lateral move on the surface, and maybe even a downgrade given the talent difference on the roster, it still might end up being a shorter path to a head coaching job. Or at the very least, a potential pay raise in the short-term.
