NFL Exec Says Eric Bieniemy Has 'Probably Helped His Profile' as Commanders OC

If Eric Bieniemy wanted to challenge himself by taking the job of Washington Commanders offensive coordinator for this season to strengthen his resume for a potential NFL head-coaching job in the future, it seems to have paid off.

Per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and John Keim, one executive with another NFC team explained why Bieniemy has "probably helped his profile" this season in Washington.

"He took over a tough situation there in Washington and has worked hard to correct it," the executive said. "They needed a culture shock there. I think he's probably helped his profile."

Bieniemy spent 10 seasons on Andy Reid's coaching staff with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2013 to '22, including his last five seasons as offensive coordinator.

Despite being a key voice for an offense that was among the best in the NFL during that span, Bieniemy was never able to land a job as a head coach. The 54-year-old frequently met with teams over the years.

USA Today's Tom Schad noted Bieniemy has had 15 head-coaching interviews with 14 different teams from 2020 to '23, with the New York Jets being the only team that he's interviewed with twice.

There has been a lot of speculation about why Bieniemy has been unable to land a head-coaching job. Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy, who served as offensive coordinator before Bieniemy got the job, both got jobs as a head coach after working with the Chiefs.

"For whatever reason, he's gotten caught up in this cycle of interviews with no head coaching offers," Rod Graves, the executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance. tpld Schad. "It does make you wonder."

Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill have all praised Bieniemy's coaching acumen.

If the thought for Bieniemy was he needed to get away from the comforts of working with Mahomes and Reid, arguably the best quarterback and coach pairing in the NFL, to finally land a head-coaching gig, this season has been largely positive for him.

Considering Sam Howell was a fifth-round draft pick without much hype coming into this season, him currently ranking second in the NFL in passing yards (3,466) and tied for 12th in touchdown passes (18) is a nice feather in Bieniemy's cap.

It hasn't been an entirely smooth ride for Bieniemy in Washington. Head coach Ron Rivera told reporters during training camp that some players voiced their concern about Bieniemy's intensity in practices.

Fowler and Keim noted some of the issues players had earlier this season included afternoon meetings with the offense that would "frequently" run long and get in the way if they needed to receive treatment.

"Bieniemy's initial concession was to allow players to use foam rollers on the floor of the meeting rooms to save meeting time, per a team source," Fowler and Keim wrote. "In recent weeks Bieniemy has relaxed some of the demands, including shortening Wednesday practices from two hours to closer to an hour and a half."

There are already two coaching jobs that could be open this offseason. The Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers are working with interim head coaches right now. There could be as many as eight more jobs that come open when this season ends.

It won't be a surprise if Bieniemy receives interviews for several of those jobs, but this season might be the thing that finally pushes him over the top to get hired for one of them.