Grant believes Ron Rivera is not the answer as the Commanders head coach, and wouldn’t blame the new ownership group if it decided to fire him and play out the rest of the season with an interim head coach.
But the likely interim candidate would be offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, and if that were the case, Grant would have some concerns.
Mainly, if Bieniemy takes on a head coaching workload, would his decreased focus on the offense impact the development of Sam Howell, which is currently crucial to the future of the franchise?
“I think that’s probably fair and could be earned based on his lifetime of achievement and his resume dating back to Kansas City,” Grant said of Bieniemy potentially getting the job. “But my concern would be promoting Eric Bieniemy to the big job, and you’re running the whole team, you’re doing the press conferences…you’re going on NFL Network,…all of those obligations, and I’m not even talking ball yet. You do all those things, and then you’re meeting with the defense…all of the things you do as a head coach will take away from the time spent with Howell.
“How can you not think that taking the main voice in Howell’s ear away isn’t going to affect him in some way the rest of the season?”
