NFL’s Black Monday has swept through the NFL again, leaving six head coach job openings: NY Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, LA Chargers, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn was one of the coaching casualties.
Lynn ends his four-year stint with the Chargers with a solid 33-31 regular-season record and a 1-1 postseason mark. Lynn led the Chargers to a 12-4 record and a wild-card playoff victory in 2018 with Phillip Rivers, but he was unable to sustain that success, going 5-11 in 2019 and winning just two more games in 2020.
Louis Riddick For GM
A general manager position has also opened up in Denver. John Elway, who has failed miserably in acquiring the quarterback and personnel to keep the Broncos competitive, is stepping aside to take another role with the organization and will be hiring a General Manager.
ESPN football analyst Louis Riddick is just a phone call away and his football mind and acumen are second to none. Time to give another brother a chance. Andrew Berry and Chris Grier are the only two Black GMs in the NFL and they both led their teams to the playoffs and double-digit wins.
As far as head coaches go, the 51-year-old Bieniemy is the clear cream of the crop and we break down which of the six vacancies would be best for him.
Chargers
While Anthony Lynn definitely got done dirty — getting fired with a 32-31 record in his four seasons as Chargers head coach and just one season after finding Justin Herbert the future of the franchise — it would be sweet to see Eric Bieniemy expand on what Pep Hamilton has taught Herbert.
Hamilton has done a superb job in helping to cultivate Herbert’s rookie season and maximize the 6-foot-5 multi-talented pigskin slinger’s talents.
The Chargers have a franchise QB and a potent offense. They won seven games this season and every loss was within reach. There’s a lot to work with in LA. If I’m Bieniemy, this is the job I want.
Jaguars
The Jaguars are terrible but have the first overall pick in the draft, which everyone assumes they will use to select Clemson’s 6-foot-6 slinger Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence is considered by some to be the top quarterback prospect in history.
I love Justin Fields and have been raving about him since he was in H.S. … but this is just stupid. Trevor Lawrence is the greatest QB prospect in football history and could have had a 90 yard, 0 TD, 6 TO game and he'd still go #1 overall.
— Author Jameis1of1 (@jameis1of1) January 2, 2021
That’s the good news for Bieniemy should the Jaguars choose to offer him a job. The offensive-minded guru would have his franchise QB in place and a wondrous talent to build around. There are rumors that the franchise is putting the full-court press on Urban Meyer, who reportedly wants $12 million to try his hand at pro coaching.
Even with the possibility of getting Lawrence, the Jaguars won 1 game in 2020 and are a couple of seasons away from being good. Right now, they don’t have the weapons for Bieniemy to immediately flourish from the jump.
I wouldn’t take this job if I was him.
Jets
The Jets made a blunder when they chose Adam Gase to run Gang Green and nurture the franchise quarterback Sam Darnold.
After two floundering seasons, Darnold’s stock is so low that the Jets couldn’t move him if they wanted to. They will, however, have the option of choosing a quarterback more to Bieniemy’s liking with the No. 2 pick.
Ohio State’s Justin Fields will be available, fresh off his 6-TD performance in the CFP semifinals. As will BYU’s Zach Wilson and Florida’s Kyle Trask. A million things will change between now and the NFL Draft. The fact that there are some attractive possibilities at QB with that pick, might improve the Jets’ chances of landing Bieniemy. First, they have to offer him.
End of the day, I wouldn’t touch this job either. The Jets hierarchy has just been too self-destructive and they have cultural issues.
Texans
This is a team that many football minds feel would be a perfect fit for Bieniemy because DeShaun Jackson is putting up Peyton Manning numbers without the supporting cast, coaching or an offensive guru with experience breeding Super Bowl quarterbacks.
Bieniemy’s offensive prowess is on display every week that Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes does something otherworldly. Watson is capable of the same with the right guidance.
The Texans aren’t as putrid as their 4-12 record suggests. With Bieniemy’s leadership at the top and the franchise’s commitment to improving the defense and expanding Watson’s weaponry, this could be the move that elevates Watson and Bieniemy to the next level.
Falcons
Atlanta has a robust fan base, a beautiful facility, an owner who cares in Arthur Blanks and a potent offense. But my question would be; how many years does 35-year-old Matt Ryan have left? There’s been speculation that he might not even return in 2021 which would leave the quarterback situation in Atlanta in disarray. This job opening might be a few years too late (or early) for Bieniemy to take right now.
The Falcons do have the No 4 overall pick in the draft which would allow them an opportunity to select one of the top quarterback prospects. It would be up to Bieniemy if he valued any of those potential QBs (Fields and Lawrence will be off the board). Is there a Dak Prescott or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson in the Draft somewhere?
This could be a super sweet job or a disaster because the Falcons appear to be rebuilding and if I’m Bieniemy I don’t want any parts of a rebuild with no established franchise QB.
Lions
The Lions are perpetual losers and that would scare any potential head coach away. However, there are only 32 available NFL jobs so if Bieniemy wants to be a head coach he will have to select one.
He does have the talented veteran Matt Stafford to work with at QB. Stafford isn’t getting any younger and he realizes that his window in Detroit is closing and his peak is waning. Stafford could benefit from Bieniemy’s offensive knowledge and maybe he can turn his statistical mastery into some playoff wins and end this “hard luck” moniker that has haunted Detroit for so long.
However, as previously mentioned, Detroit seems to have deficiencies in the culture and Bieniemy doesn’t want to accept a situation that wouldn’t allow him to have total freedom to institute his winning culture.
