WASHINGTON — A two-time Super Bowl winning coach is joining the Washington Commanders roster next season.
The Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, has been offered a multi-year contract with the Washington Commanders as the next assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. A press conference will be held Thursday at Commanders Park to officially introduce the new coach.
Bieniemy won his second ring with Andy Reid on Sunday when Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 38-35 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57. He was still riding the winning high when he sat to down to dinner with Commanders head coach Ron Rivera Wednesday evening.
As of Friday afternoon, sources told WUSA9 the process was "moving along." Owner Dan Snyder flew the team's president, Jason Wright, back from Los Angeles to "help seal the deal,” in part because the two men are from the same area in California, and went to high school less than 15 miles apart.
So why would Bieniemy, who just won his second Super Bowl in five years, leave Kansas City, where he's been since 2013, for the same position in Washington? Bieniemy has addressed concerns that racism in the NFL hiring process for coaches was holding him back.
DeMeco Ryans was the lone Black candidate to land one of the NFL's five head coaching vacancies heading into the 2023-2024 season, meaning the 32-team league will remain stuck at just three Black coaches for the fifth year in a row. The NFL has claimed specific steps like the implementation of the 'Rooney Rule' years ago of interviewing candidates of color has helped make progress in hiring minority coaches.
Some say the reason Bieniemy hasn't gotten a head coaching job is because Reid calls the offensive plays for the chiefs, casting a large shadow over Bieniemy's ability to command an offensive game plan himself. But Matt Nagy and Doug Pederson were both offensive coordinators under Reid and didn't call offensive plays and they both got head coaching jobs.
Both the offensive and defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eales landed first-time head coaching gigs within 48 hours of their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Jonathan Gannon replaced Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona on Tuesday and Shane Steichen was hired in Indianapolis.
Commanders coach Ron Rivera, a former NFL linebacker, is known more for his defensive prowess, which would give Bieniemy more responsibility in offensive playcalling.
Reid has long hoped for Bieniemy to get his shot as a head coach, saying recently, "Eric Bieniemy has been tremendous for us and I think tremendous for the National Football League. I’m hoping he has an opportunity to go somewhere and do his thing where he can run the show and be Eric Bieniemy.”
Bieniemy will join the Commanders as he enters his 25th NFL season, including nine seasons as a player.