Commanders' Eric Bieniemy 'Fired Up' to Coach 'Dynamic' QB Sam Howell
By leaving the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason, Eric Bieniemy is going from coaching two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes to someone else.
That "someone else" is probably going to be Sam Howell, who Ron Rivera tabbed as the "likely" starting quarterback going into OTA's.
Even if it appears to be a downgrade, Bieniemy is excited about the opportunity to coach the second-year pro.
"I can only base my evaluation on what he did coming out of college," Bieniemy said in his introductory press conference. "Now I did have an opportunity to see him play in that last game against the Dallas Cowboys. The kid is a dynamic football player.
"He can make throws from different platforms. You can tell he has that baseball background. The thing that got me fired up was when he ran for that touchdown, he flexed, so that was some good stuff... I'm fired up about the opportunity to get to know the kid."
Howell, a fifth-round pick in last year's draft, didn't make his NFL debut until the final game of the season, a 26-6 win over the Cowboys. He showed promise, enough to get the approval of Ron Rivera going into the offseason, but Bieniemy didn't rule out the idea of bringing in someone to compete for the starting job next to Howell.
"You always want to create competition," Bieniemy said. "You want to make sure that we're getting the very best out of people at that position."
It's Bieniemy's job to get the best out of Howell, and everyone else on the offense. But he wouldn't have taken the leap of faith to Washington if he knew he couldn't do so.
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