It looks as if Eric Bieniemy is lining up for a lateral move in the NFL.
They say where there’s smoke, there is fire, and that means there could be some legitimate heat behind the rumors that say Eric Bieniemy might be comfortable leaving the Kansas City Chiefs for what is essentially a lateral move to another NFL team.
The Chiefs have employed Bieniemy as their offensive coordinator for the last five seasons with another five years as a positional coach with the running backs before that. Despite 10 years of experience with the NFL’s most successful team—including a half-decade at the coordinator level—Bieniemy has been unable to earn a head coaching offer in the last several years—this, despite the fact that he’s interviewed for more than half of all NFL franchises.
In order to make the move forward, which Bieniemy insists he has the ambition to chase, he might have to move sideways—fair or not—and that means taking a potential offensive coordinator job with another NFL team.
When it comes to those potential openings, several teams seemed very, very interested in bringing Bieniemy on board and ESPN reporter Adam Schefter says two of those teams view Bieniemy as a “prime candidate”: the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders.
For the Commanders, Bieniemy was previously tied to the head coaching role until Ron Rivera was set free by the Carolina Panthers in the midst of the hiring cycle, which moved him to the front of the line in the nation’s capital. Being able to add Bieniemy to that staff could help work wonders on a team that’s been strong defensively but lacking on the offensive side in recent seasons.
As for the Ravens, Greg Roman just resigned earlier this offseason which opens things up for a change in Baltimore. Whether or not they would continue to emphasize the run game so much would be interesting to see, but Bieniemy could certainly bring them forward on the passing side of things.
The Chiefs play their final game on Sunday, so any potential coaching shifts will be allowed to happen shortly thereafter. Win or lose, expect some quick transactions and announcements on this front (and perhaps others on the coaching staff) shortly after Super Bowl Sunday.