Pat Shurmur, Mike Kafka could be offensive coordinator candidates for Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have some solid candidates to consider for potential Eric Bieniemy replacements at offensive coordinator if he leaves.

If Eric Bieniemy finally gets the head coaching opportunity he deserves this offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs should have a couple key candidates to consider as his replacement that should leave the offense in good hands. The likeliest two candidates would feature both an in-house option and a potential import in Mike Kafka and Pat Shurmur.

Bieniemy has been the team’s offensive coordinator for the last two years, following in the footsteps of previous OCs turned head coaches in Doug Pederson (who went to the Philadelphia Eagles) and Matt Nagy (who went to the Chicago Bears). So far this offseason, Bieniemy has interviews scheduled with both the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants. Other teams have yet to make their moves, so the list could continue to grow (e.g. Jacksonville Jaguars).

If Bieniemy leaves, the door is wide open once again for a future head coach in training. Andy Reid‘s coaching tree is the NFL’s biggest and teams are consistently looking to his staff for future head coaching candidates. That’s why it could be interesting to see which direction the Chiefs would take with any opening created by Bieniemy.

The obvious guess for next man up on the Chiefs coaching staff would be Mike Kafka, a former Eagles quarterback under Reid who has served as an assistant coach with the team for the last three years. Kafka last played in the league in 2015 and then became an assistant coach at Northwestern. From there, Reid added him to the Chiefs as a quality control coach before hiring him to run the quarterbacks room in 2018.

Kafka’s two years with Mahomes and company along with his experience make him a coach to watch in the wings, but he might not yet be ready for a leap to the coordinator stage. Consider that previous options like Bieniemy, Pederson and Nagy all had considerable more coaching experience than Kafka. If so, the Chiefs might want to import someone like Reid’s friend Pat Shurmur.

Shurmur was recently fired as the head coach of the New York Giants, which means he’s unlikely to be getting a new head gig anytime soon. Shurmur will soon settle in as offensive help for some team and it wouldn’t hurt his reputation to spend time with his former mentor in Andy Reid. Shurmur served as an assistant coach for a decade next to Reid in Philadelphia, first as tight ends and offensive line coach and then as quarterbacks coach for his final 7 years.

It’s unknown whether Bieniemy will even create a void on the staff just yet, so any such move might not be necessary for the Chiefs to consider. That said, some decent options are there—outside and in—for K.C. in case they need to fill it.