Is Eric Bieniemy going to be a head coach in waiting for Commanders?

Eric Bieniemy is reportedly leaning toward joining the Commanders as an offensive coordinator, but is there more than that in the future?

On the surface, the move is a bit of a head-scratcher.

At the present moment, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is reportedly interviewing for (and perhaps negotiating the terms of) an offensive coordinator position with the Washington Commanders.

Why in the world would Bieniemy accept a lateral move to a lesser team in a conference he doesn’t know? Even more confusing, why is Bieniemy not finding traction to move forward toward his career goals of being a head coach? While those things are unknown as of yet, there might be something more at work here in the negotiations if you tie a few potential ideas together.

Bieniemy has made no secret of his desire to be a future head coach and a stint with the Commanders as their O.C. would be a short one either way. If he doesn’t work out and somehow flops, he would be fired anyway. However, if he succeeds, Bieniemy seems like he’s betting on himself to finally make the leap with positive results.

But remember this: Bieniemy was the odds-on favorite to replace Jay Gruden (and then interim Bill Callahan) on the Washington sidelines back in 2019. It would have made sense to pair him back with Alex Smith in those days, although there was nothing substantive in those days—just conjecture. However, what if there was real appreciation for Bieniemy back then?

Ron Rivera ended up with the job after he was fired by the Carolina Panthers, but he is now 61 years old. Is it possible that Rivera has telegraphed his long-term intentions up the food chain and Washington is somehow getting ahead of the curve like a healthy organization might to find their next head coach? Could EB be a head coaching in waiting in ’22 with a job already ready for him?

It almost seems unbelievable that Bieniemy could find something like that after all this time, but he certainly deserves it. Maybe this is nothing more than negotiations for a lateral move and there’s nothing more in the works, but if Rivera and the Commanders’ brass have given him some long-term promise, the move could make a lot more sense in time.