Getty Eric Bieniemy, offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs
The New York Giants cut ties with their head coach of two seasons, Pat Shurmur, early on Black Monday. Shortly after relieving Shurmur of his head coaching duties, the Giants moved swiftly to ensure an interview with a plethora of top coaching candidates on the market.
While an interview request for Josh McDaniels has gone out to the New England Patriots, and home-grown Baylor University head coach Matt Rhule has stolen headlines as a potential fit with the team, a much lesser-known offensive coordinator for one of the NFL’s top offenses may be emerging as the top candidate for Big Blue.
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Giants Request Permission to Interview Eric Bieniemy
Quickly after firing their head coach Pat Shurmur on Monday, just a day after the team finished their third season with fewer than six wins, the New York Giants shifted their focus to finding the right man for the job. New York requested permission from the Kansas City Chiefs to have a sit down with their offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy about the potential to slate him as Big Blue’s 19th head coach in franchise history.
Bieniemy has had a long career in the NFL as both a player and a coach. A 1990 Heisman Trophy finalist, Beiniemy played nine seasons in the league as a member of the San Diego Chargers, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
From there, Bieniemy would work his way up the coaching ranks, serving as a running back coach at stops in his alma mater Colorado as well as UCLA, and eventually returning to Colorado as the offensive coordinator for two seasons. He would ultimately jump ship to the NFL, taking a running back coach gig with the Kansas City Chiefs, and operate under that title for four seasons. Then, in 2018 Bieniemy would be promoted to offensive coordinator.
Bieniemy’s rise to Kansas City’s OC coincides with the same time Patrick Mahomes took the helm at quarterback. Since then, Bieniemy has helped develop Mahomes into arguably the best quarterback in football, while also coaching back-to-back top-four ranked total offenses on the way.
New York Has Shown Their Hand
John Mara, the president and co-owner of the Giants, has gone on record saying he has not ruled out a defensive-minded coach as the team’s next head man.
However, with the team requesting interviews with both Bieniemy and New England’s Josh McDaniels, it’s clear New York would prefer to get an offensive mind in the door.
Teams tend to avoid the background of their previous head coach, as a simple way to determine why things went wrong prior. Yet, New York’s aggressiveness to vet the best offensive minds in football is in the best interest of not only Daniel Jones’ development but the franchise’s potential success as a whole.
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