Commanders head coach Ron Rivera went through a long process to hire offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, which was necessary given that Bieniemy’s former employer was playing in the last game of the postseason.
But Rivera sees Bieniemy as certainly worth the wait.
“From the times he played as a high school player, collegiate player, an NFL player, he had success. Now you add upon that his growth and development as a coach and having the success he’s had, it’s instant credibility,” Rivera said in a media scrum after Bieniemy’s introductory press conference. “I think that is one of the more important things for our guys, is that they’re looking at a guy that’s been there, done that, has had the success. So when he speaks, I mostly know everybody’s gonna listen.”
Rivera said he received plenty of support from ownership on his plan to take all the time he needed to find a new offensive coordinator. Once the Chiefs’ season was over after winning Super Bowl LVII, Rivera immediately reached out to gauge Bieniemy’s interest. He talked to plenty of people about Bieniemy, too, including Rivera’s former boss with the Eagles, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.
“He was gracious — very great about it and just said this is something, knowing Eric, that he would like to do,” Rivera said. “So, we got permission. I talked to some of the coaches I’ve worked with that were working with Eric at the time. Everything they said was positive. Reached out to some players that I talked to, they were all positive. So, the next step was obviously talking with Eric, getting that set up, and then getting the opportunity to bring Eric in for the interview.”
Rivera said he was impressed with how detailed Bieniemy was in his vision for Washington’s offense, with specific plans for the team’s biggest playmakers and young quarterback Sam Howell.
“Those were things that really told me he’d been paying attention these last few days in his preparation for this opportunity to sit down and talk to me — was that he had an idea of where he wanted to go,” Rivera said. “That was really good.
“There was a lot of positive energy, things that really got me excited about him.”
Rivera noted he doesn’t see Bieniemy coming in as a wholesale change to the team’s offense, though plenty will change.
“My initial thought was, I’d like to see if we can keep this as similar as possible,” Rivera said. “But then the realization [came] that if we’re going to change, we’ve got to change — we’ve got to stress our guys to learn it, make them commit to go out and do these things so they can be accountable to one another. That I thought was really important. And, again, listening to him talk about that, it really made a lot of sense and excited me about it.”