Jaguars Head Coach Search: Pros and Cons to Eric Bieniemy's Candidacy
The Jacksonville Jaguars are on the precipice of hiring a new head coach, one the franchise hopes can turn around fortunes and help bring the city hope.
Names have abounded in recent days, but the list has been whittled down to a few men. Each has their strengths as well as their weaknesses.
Read more: Does Urban Meyer make sense for the Jaguars?
We examine the pros and cons that come with each coach and their potential impact on the Jaguars. In this edition, we look at Kansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
Background
- Colorado (2001–2002): Running backs coach
- UCLA (2003–2005): Running backs coach
- Minnesota Vikings (2006–2009): Running backs coach
- Minnesota Vikings (2010): Assistant head coach/running backs coach
- Colorado (2011–2012): Offensive coordinator
- Kansas City Chiefs (2013–2017): Running backs coach
- Kansas City Chiefs (2018-present: Offensive Coordinator
Eric Bieniemy's coaching career began shortly after his nine-year career as an NFL running back. Drafted in the second round (39th overall) of the 1991 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, Bieniemy spent time with the Bengals and Eagles before retiring.
Bieniemy then worked his way up from collegiate running backs coach to running backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings, bringing him to the Vikings around the same time of Adrian Peterson.
Bieniemy then had a two-year stint as Colorado's offensive coordinator. His units finished 109th and 120th in scoring before he left the program, then joining his former coach Andy Reid in Kansas City. Bieniemy has been there since and has worked his way up the ranks to offensive coordinator, replacing Matt Nagy in 2018 after he took the head coach job with the Chicago Bears.
Pros
The biggest plus is the fact that Bieniemy has spent the last eight years learning from arguably one of the two or three best head coaches in the NFL in Andy Reid. Even if Bieniemy's offenses struggled at Colorado, that was before he joined the Chiefs; there is a strong likelihood he is a completely different coach now than from 2011-2012.
Reid has one of the most impressive coaching trees out there, so the fact that there have been multiple successful head coaches who have branched out from his tutelage is encouraging when talking about the prospects of Bieniemy. He has seen what not only a winning-caliber offense looks like, but more importantly he knows what a winning culture looks like.
A successful NFL team is much more than just X's and O's and offensive playbooks. It requires not only the right kind of leadership ability, but the right people at the helm who know how to relate to and manager modern-era athletes. Considering Patrick Mahomes himself has reportedly been selling Bieniemy on other players, there is little question about his leadership ability and the positives he has picked up under Reid.
Aside from the plusses of Bieniemy being a Reid disciple, there is of course the fact that Kansas City has had one of the league's best offenses the last three seasons. Bieniemy is not the primary playcaller, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a massive hand in the offensive gameplans, preparation, and game day operations. As Bieniemy described last winter, a lot of what he does is serve as a communication bridge to quarterback Mahomes. This is a key responsibility and it is obvious that Bieniemy has a large role in Kansas City's offense.
No matter the size of that role, it needs to be considered that Bieniemy has had a front-row seat to the NFL's most lethal offense over the last three seasons. He helped coordinate the Chiefs to a No. 1 offensive ranking in Mahomes' first season as a starter, was a key cog to the Super Bowl-winning team in 2019, and has continued to play a key role in 2020,
All in all, Bieniemy is well-liked by his players and respected by his fellow coaches. The fact that he has been a big part of the development of the NFL's best quarterback and a Super Bowl offense simply can't be viewed as anything but huge plusses, even if he isn't the sole reason they won.
Finally, Bieniemy has helped a lot of NFL running backs find success as a positional coach. Connecting him and James Robinson together one year after Robinson had arguably the best season any undrafted rookie running back has ever had could pay off in a massive way for the Jaguars while they transition their rookie quarterback to the NFL.
Cons
What kind of staff would Bieniemy bring with him, particularly on defense? That is the biggest question here, not his lack of extensive play-calling experience in Kansas City.
While it certainly isn't a positive that Bieniemy doesn't exclusively call Kansas City's offense like Brian Daboll does in Buffalo, there is at least the fact that Bieniemy is still extremely involved in their offense. There is no mitigating factor the question of whether he knows the right hires to make to fix a defense, however.
Jacksonville's offense and quarterback room clearly take precedent over the defense, but it should be factored in just how bad Jacksonville's defense was in 2020 and how much of a job it will be to restore it to even a state of averageness. As of now, the fact that there is a bit of an unclear direction of just how Bieniemy would fix that is worth noting, just as it is worth noting for every other non-defensive coach takes the job. He will need to have the right vision and make the right hires, something that is hard to determine the likelihood of during the interview process.
Bieniemy will need to also show that he can lead an offense on his own. While he has played a significant role in Kansas City's, he would need to be the top dog in Jacksonville. His close work with Mahomes suggests this shouldn't be an issue, but it still bears acknowledging.
On one hand, Bieniemy will have a talented quarterback to work with in Jacksonville in the event he lands the job, so it isn't like he is going from Mahomes to a replacement-level passer. On the other hand, the Jaguars may be more inclined to put the future of their franchise into the hands of someone who has shown they can be the face of the offense.
