It was an eventful day at the AFC coaches’ breakfast from the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix.
During the breakfast, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson tweeted he requested a trade on March 2. This led to an awkward interview with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who was speaking at the breakfast around precisely the same time as Jackson’s tweet.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also mentioned Jackson and rapper Meek Mill.
Super Bowl-winning head coach Andy Reid also spoke. Reid discussed the Eagles and Nick Sirianni, and, of course, he talked about the Washington Commanders and new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
After spending the past 10 seasons working under Reid in Kansas City, Bieniemy left his comfortable post as offensive coordinator for the same position with the Commanders. Bieniemy also received the assistant head coach title and will call plays, opportunities he did not have with the Chiefs.
Reid couldn’t be happier for Bieniemy.
“This will be give EB an opportunity to move in and run the whole show, get my name out of it and put his name on it, and I think that that’s important right now,” Reid said.
“I was for it; as much as I’m gonna miss him, I was for it. Because he deserves an opportunity. Novody works harder than EB does. So he deserves that opportunity to be a head coach. I think will allow people to see his personality, see how he handles the whole squad. Calling plays, everything, the whole show. I think that’ll help him for a head coaching spot.”
“I’m a big EB fan.”
Bieniemy was treated with a hero’s welcome by the Commanders during his introductory press conference. Multiple offensive players were in attendance for Bieniemy’s presser and expressed excitement about him coming to Washington.
Reid has always helped his former assistants move up in the coaching world. And, while unfair, he felt Bieniemy needed to be in complete control of an offense to show NFL teams he deserves to be a head coach. Reid felt working for Rivera, an old friend, was a good match for Bieniemy to achieve that goal.
It was perfect timing for the Commanders, who badly needed to hire a proven offensive coordinator with Rivera heading into a critical fourth season.
