Once a regular interviewee for head coaching jobs, Eric Bieniemy has seen his stock drop since leaving Kansas City. As the Chiefs have continued their dynasty, Bieniemy ended up a one-and-done with the Commanders and UCLA. The Bruins hired him for that role last year but saw their offensive production dip.
Bieniemy is a veteran staffer who made significant contributions on two Super Bowl-winning teams, however, and he is drawing interest once again. Most notably, FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz indicates he met with the Patriots about their OC post this month. Now-three-time Pats OC Josh McDaniels had always seemed the frontrunner for the job, being connected to Mike Vrabel even before the Patriots were the latter’s known destination. Had McDaniels not been in play, Schultz adds Bieniemy was viewed as a top candidate for the position.
Other teams have spoken with Bieniemy as well, though no other interviews are known to have occurred just yet. Bieniemy is no longer the Bruins’ OC, as the sides separated after the one season. As expected, he is interested in moving back to the NFL.
A path to an OC role no longer appears assured for a coach who accumulated more than a dozen HC interviews during his time as Kansas City’s non-play-calling OC. The coordinator carousel is in full swing, and time is running out to land a position. Though, a handful of coordinator posts remain unfilled. It will be interesting, though, if Bieniemy would be ready to jump back in the league for a lesser role.
Chip Kelly left his HC post at UCLA to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. That move paid off via the Buckeyes’ recent national title and generated more NFL interest. Meanwhile, UCLA dropped from 70th in scoring offense to 126th from 2023-24. This came after Bieniemy oversaw the Commanders’ offense, which finished in the bottom quartile in points and yardage — with former fifth-round pick Sam Howell at the wheel — in 2023. Bieniemy, 55, spoke with the Jets during their stealth search for Nathaniel Hackett help
Teams’ skepticism about Bieniemy’s importance in Kansas City led to the veteran assistant being unable to follow Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy in landing HC opportunities. This generated immense scrutiny, as the NFL has not seen a wave of Black play-callers emerge on offense. Bieniemy eventually left Andy Reid‘s team to secure a play-calling chance elsewhere, as Nagy stepped into a non-play-calling OC post in Kansas City for a second time. Nagy has a chance to collect a second Super Bowl ring, should the Chiefs topple the Eagles, while his former coworker angles to return to the league.
Got fired from UCLA, his agent spun it like it was a mutual decision to part ways. He really hasn’t produced since he had Mahomes n Pat could make me look good @OC.
I mean, this is a team that instead hired a guy who built a career on Brady and was a disastrous hire for several other teams.
He made Matt Cassell look good in 2008. He made Mac Jones look good his rookie year as well. McDaniels is your classic very good OC very bad HC. Not everybody is HC material
You can use that second sentence for Josh McDaniels with Tom & Hackett w/ Rodgers.
That one is worse given that Hackett wasn’t the offensive architect or play caller when he was “successful” with Rodgers. But at least Hackett isn’t widely loathed as a person like McDaniels is.
Always interesting how working under Reid is seen by people on here as a discredit to Bieniemy when for so many other guys it was a red carpet to head coaching jobs.
See with Bieniemy, I think problem is his personality and how it reflects on players. If you remember when he was Washington, there was this report about how players thought practice was “too intense” and led to greater chance of injury, or when he was calling plays in Washington he always passed the ball even when the run game was effective and behind a terrible OL with a QB in Howell who only started a handful of games as a rookie and I guess he did not listen to feedback from players, plays did not consider him a “players coach.” The reason this worked in KC at the time was because they knew it helped them win, and Washington (Rivera Era) was a complete joke. So players used to losing moan and cry. Usually team openings are for awful teams. His “intense personality” clearly did not click with owners and general managers. I think his 1 shot to be a head coach was always to succeed Andy Reid. But is Nagy the heir apparent? I think we all the Rooney Rule is an absolute. Look at the Jon Gruden and Antonio Pierce hires for the Raiders or the Mike Vrabel hire for the Patriots. Everyone knew they were earmarked and fulfilled the Rooney Rule, because they had to. There is racism among owners. I do not doubt that. I also do not think he was willing to be an owner’s puppet, which some owners prefer/want in a head coach. Case in point: Jerry Jones.
In my eyes, Biemiemy should go back to the Chiefs and hope Nagy somehow gets a 2nd coaching coach. Him getting interviews this cycle amazed me, personally. KC tends to take more towards to that style of coaching and you can tell, especially in the playoffs.
That’s kinda how I see it,
I do think the run/pass balance thing in Washington is way overblown. It’s one thing that Seattle ran the ball so little this year with two strong backs and a strong defense, but Washington gave up the most points in football last year. It’s hard to run the ball all that much when you’re always behind.
Dude, I am a Seahawks fan. I know about the running and passing situation last year. It pissed Mike Macdonald off so much that fired Grubb. So yeah, I unfortunately had to deal with it and it was consistently frustrating when we run the effectively and then just quit and pass the rest of the game. That’s also true about Washington, but Bieniemy should have look at that situation and had a better idea then just throw every the ball every play. Sam Howell played and started 1 game as a rookie. The offensive line was terrible. I know he was a fan of Jahan Dotson, but still. In that situation, the game plan would be to just give the ball to Brian Robinson as much as possible, chew the clock, and keep that defense OFF the field for as long as humanly possibly. Sam Howell was sack 65 TIMES! And I understand Howell’s turnovers did not help the situation. That should be an indicator that your game plan needs to be either adjuster or flat out scrapped.
I mean, I think Bieniemy shouldn’t have taken that job at all. It was a terrible situation with a bad line, a sack magnet late round quarterback, and a lame duck head coach.
I think he was set for a Ravens interview before they hired Monken, but he cancelled and took the Commander’s job.
It wasn’t just Mahomes on the field that made Bieniemy look good. It was Andy Reid above him.
Don’t sell yourself short. You might be an excellent OC, even without Mahomes.
The most overhyped coach, like water, he found his level…..average at best, if that.
It’s funny. Everyone tried to make it about race when he wasn’t hired as HC after his time in KC. KC’s success is all about Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.