The Seahawks are in search of a new offensive coordinator but could also be in search for a new head coach in a couple of years. Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy might both fix issues. Several changes would need to be made for Seattle to make this move but this would help Seattle be successful now and into the future.
Now, you might think me dumb for even offering you this idea of Eric Bieniemy coming to the Seahawks. Maybe I am dumb. But I am also a fan. And while Bieniemy joining Seattle might not be rational or highly likely, there is nothing really rational about being a fan of anything. You just are and it becomes a part of you.
Plus, part of being a fan is having fun with ideas that might not be possible but somewhere along the lines of, “If my team only had done…this.” Well, Seattle, with the Kansas City Chiefs blessing, could interview Bieniemy and offer him a chance to come to Seattle to be the team’s next offensive coordinator. Not only that, but let Bieniemy have a chance to be the Seahawks next head coach.
Carroll and Bieniemy
Pete Carroll is still the team’s head coach, and a good one. But he is 69 years old and turns 70 at the beginning of the 2021 season and won’t coach forever.
Eric Bieniemy is the current offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, and a good one. Any lateral move would have to be OK’d by the Chiefs first. But Bieniemy wants to be a head coach and Seattle could nearly guarantee him that. Seattle has signed general manager John Schneider through 2027 and will most likely be making the decision of who Seattle’s next head coach is.
So, yes. Eric Bieniemy coming to Seattle is unlikely. But there is always a chance and it is an interesting idea. Not putting it out there just because process and procedures would have to be gone through? Well, what’s the fun in that?
Here is how Eric Bieniemy coming to Seattle would affect all parties.
How this affects Seahawks coach Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll signed an extension during the 2020 season to be the head coach in Seattle through 2025. An important thing to note is that Carroll is also Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Even if Carroll were not the football coach of the team, he would still be heavily involved in the organization.
Carroll is 69 years old and the oldest coach in the NFL. He is a young 69, however. I am much younger than Carroll and he appears to have more energy and in better shape than I have ever had or been in. That said, the oldest head coach in NFL history was Romeo Crennel who took over the Texans when Bill O’Brien was fired early in the season. Crennel is 73 years old. Carroll will turn 70 at the beginning of the 2022 season.
Hiring Bieniemy to be the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach with some kind of guarantee that he will become the Seahawks head coach after Carroll decides to retire might sound a bit odd but it will help Seattle long-term, not do anything to Pete Carroll’s tenure as head coach unless he decided to step down early (which is completely possible) and help Bieniemy get to where he wants which is to be an NFL head coach.
Hiring Bieniemy as offensive coordinator would give Carroll the kind of OC he would like, though. Bieniemy was a running back in the NFL and the Chiefs are good at running the ball creatively so if Carroll does want more of a run-pass balance, Bieniemy would be a great fit. Plus, Bieniemy helps design offensive plays that get the best out of a mobile quarterback and that would only help Russell Wilson.
How the move would affect Eric Bieniemy
So far, Bieniemy has not been offered any head coaching opportunities which is strange as he has been very successful throughout his entire coaching career. But leaving the tutelage of Andy Reid to go to a more defensive-minded coach like Pete Carroll and being successful would only enhance his reputation.
One thing that might be holding Bieniemy back is that he doesn’t call offensive plays with the Chiefs. He is part of the communication system but Reid is the one who makes the decisions on which plays are run and when they are run. But there shouldn’t be any doubt that Bieniemy could call plays and do a good job of doing so.
In fact, leaving the Chiefs to come to another successful organization like the Seahawks will give Bieniemy even more control of an offense. He could call the plays and have command over Russell Wilson and the rest of the offense. Bieniemy would not be hurt by going to a team with a bad offense which in turn makes him look bad too.
More likely than Bieniemy coming to Seattle is that he gets a head coaching job in a year to two. But in a year when so many teams need head coaches, how is it that Bieniemy hasn’t been offered one of them? There is therefore no guarantee that he gets offered a head coaching job in the next year or two, however likely it seems he should.
Seattle is a well-run organization with a general manager in John Schneider that is signed through 2027. If Bieniemy were to take a leap of faith and join the Seahawks, he would have a built-in culture for future success.
How this would affect Russell Wilson and John Schneider
Look, I completely do not expect such an NFL-ground shaking move where Eric Bieniemy would come to the Seahawks to be the new offensive coordinator with a guarantee that he will assume the head coaching job once Pete Carroll leaves or simply becomes a full-time VP. But there is always the possibility that it could happen and if would help Bieniemy long-term and help Seattle both in the short- and long-run.
Russell Wilson would a better quarterback if Bieniemy were his offensive coordinator. No, Bieniemy hasn’t been a quarterback coach but he helps design an overall scheme that gets the best out of his current quarterback’s abundant skills. Patrick Mahomes is a mobile quarterback with a strong arm, a lot like Russell Wilson.
Wilson is 32 years old but looked like he aged a lot in the second half of the 2020 season. Plus, Wilson is a different quarterback than the Tom Brady-types. He takes more hits and those take a toll. If Seattle is going to win another Super Bowl, Wilson’s window of opportunity is sooner rather than later as Wilson is unlikely to be playing at the level he currently is when he is nearing 40 years old.
For general manager John Schneider, Carroll’s giving way to a new coach likely would give Schneider even more control over the team and I don’t know why Schneider would not want this. I am not saying doesn’t agree with the moves Carroll makes for Seattle’s roster, but Seattle has an unusual way they handle football operations.
Carroll doesn’t answer directly to Schneider and Schneider has a lot of say over which players Seattle signs, but if Carroll were no longer the coach and Bieniemy was, Schneider could control a lot more over the final 52-man roster, practice squad and so on.
I do want to reaffirm with you that this article is simply hypothetical. Bring Eric Bieniemy to be the Seahawks offensive coordinator and future head coach should keep Seattle relevant for many years to come. And maybe the idea of my piece seems illogical and possibly dumb, but why should Seattle not try for it?