Dan Quinn: Eric Bieniemy Won't Return to Commanders Staff After Kliff Kingsbury Hire

Newly hired Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn confirmed Eric Bieniemy, the team's offensive coordinator in 2023, won't return to the staff for next season.

Bieniemy's departure doesn't come as a surprise after the Commanders confirmed Monday they hired Kliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator alongside Quinn.

Bieniemy was arguably the highest-profile OC hiring of the 2023 offseason when he headed to Washington. In his five years with the Kansas City Chiefs, the team was a two-time Super Bowl champion and regularly had one of the NFL's most explosive offenses.

Even though Bieniemy was making a lateral move, gaining full play-calling duties at least presented the opportunity to answer whatever skeptics he still had.

Unfortunately for the 54-year-old, his stock may have actually taken a noticeable hit instead given how things transpired.

Quarterback Sam Howell's production tailed off in the second half. In his final six games, he threw for 907 yards, three touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The Commanders also ranked 24th in yards and 25th in points while placing 26th in offensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), per FTN Fantasy.

Only days after Washington's final game, nearly a month before the franchise settled on Quinn and Kingsbury, the Associated Press' Stephen Whyno detailed how Bieniemy's return wasn't assured.

"Commanders players didn't seem to be looking for what Bieniemy gave them this season," Whyno wrote. "Questions about Bieniemy in recent days brought varying degrees of compliments for his consistency as a person but more criticism than praise from inside the locker room."

Offensive guard Sam Cosmi specifically cited his wish for the offense to have leaned on the running game more.

Bieniemy now enters the coaching market at an inopportune time considering most teams that were looking for an offensive coordinator have already settled on a candidate. The ship has also sailed—at least for this hiring cycle—on him transitioning to the college level and becoming a head coach at a major program there.

Bieniemy will presumably be able to land on his feet somewhere in short order, but that might hinge on him taking a much lesser role than the one he has occupied for the last six years.