The Next Big Thing

Meet the next star head coach of the NFL and the most sought after coaching candidate this upcoming offseason.

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Photo from Michael Eisen on Giants.com

Future NFL Hall of Fame head coach Andy Reid may get most of the publicity for his team’s offensive play calling successes, but Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy deserves equal praise. Bieniemy was hired in 2013 under Reid and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2018. His first year as offensive coordinator, the Kansas City Chiefs offense led the NFL in points scoring the third most points in a single season in NFL history. The Chiefs offense led the league in yards per game that season as well.

Although he is very fortunate to have reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes as his starting quarterback, Bieniemy deserves a boatload of credit for helping develop Mahomes into an elite superstar at just the young age of 25. When Mahomes was drafted by Kansas City, he was viewed as an impressive arm talent out of Texas Tech University, but few certainly expected him to be the best quarterback in the NFL at such a young age. During the playoffs last season, Mahomes praised Bieniemy:

“He’d be an awesome head coach,”. “He has that mindset, work ethic and determination you need to be a head coach in this league and I know he’s had the interest, but you know he will still be 100 percent in on what we are doing here. He would be an amazing coach and I am excited I still have him here right now for this playoff run.”

QB Patrick Mahomes and OC Eric Bieniemy. Photo from John Kuntz on Cleveland.com

Although Andy Reid does call the plays, Bieniemy has strong input on all aspects of the offense and is responsible for designing the excellent plays that make the Chiefs offense feared throughout the NFL. His offensive brilliance also helped devlop other stars on offense including WR Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce and now rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Eric Bieniemy did interview with some teams last offseason (including the New York Giants), but ended up staying in Kansas City for 2020.

Where will Bieniemy be coaching next season? We don’t know yet, but whatever team hires him is getting a proven winner and a quarterback guru who helped rapidly develop Patrick Mahomes, who some believe will go down as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game of football. Expect multiple teams to make a pitch to Bieniemy this upcoming offseason. If I’m a front office executive for a team with a subpar head coach and a young quarterback (like the New York Jets or the Jacksonville Jaguars), I’d do everything I could to hire Bieniemy this offseason as my team’s next head coach.