Eric Bieniemy’s options down to Giants, Browns after Matt Rhule hiring

With the Carolina Panthers having hired Matt Rhule, Eric Bieniemy‘s head coaching openings are now down to two this offseason.

Eric Bieniemy is now down to two options: the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants.

With the official word leaking out that the Carolina Panthers have ultimately landed on Baylor head coach Matt Rhule to jump to the NFL to replace Ron Rivera, another franchise that once expressed interest in Bieniemy has now filled its head coaching opening. This means that Bieniemy, the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, is now waiting on two more slots before being forced to wait for yet another year.

The story is, of course, not yet written on the process for Bieniemy. He’s already interviewed for both open posts, so the initial interest has been proven on both sides. Now it’s just a matter of internal decision-makers coming together in each case. Bieniemy has done his part, at least initially, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see a second interview request coming if teams are having a hard time deciphering between favorites.

Unfortunately, Las Vegas oddsmakers don’t have Bieniemy even among the competitors for the Giants job in particular. Rhule was the odds-on favorite to replace Pat Shurmur as head coach and Bieniemy isn’t even on the list of potential bets to take. Instead, New England Patriots O.C. Josh McDaniels, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett are listed as favorites.

McDaniels also leads the pack for the Browns among oddsmakers with Minnesota Vikings O.C. Kevin Stefanski, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, and San Francisco 49ers D.C. Robert Saleh all favored above Bieniemy, despite the fact that he’s already interviewed.

If you’re familiar with Bieniemy’s long-term story, then you’ll remember this same cycle happening last offseason as well. Bieniemy earned interest from four different teams last year only to see each and every franchise decide to go a different direction. Ultimately, it was chalked up to his lack of experience as a head coach or even coordinator, so he returned to K.C. to work alongside Andy Reid once again as the team’s offensive coordinator. This gave him a second year as a head-coach-in-waiting commanding a heralded offense for one of the league’s steadiest franchises.

This time around, it’s a bit more surprising to see Bieniemy finding less traction than before give his increase in experience and the fact that Andy Reid has been very vocal about Bieniemy’s head coaching readiness. That said, there are far less head coach openings than last year or even what was expected this year as the Detroit Lions, New York Jets, and Atlanta Falcons all allowed their head coaches to return despite the hot seats under each respective head coach.

Bieniemy will undoubtedly one day get his chance, and it still might be coming in time for the 2020 season, but right now it looks questionable. If not, the Chiefs will benefit from the return of the veteran voice and inspiring coach in the hopes that his third year will prove to be enough in the eyes of some NFL owner looking for a head coach in 2021.