"I think Eric Bieniemy would be a great head coach," Commanders QB Sam Howell said about Washington's OC on a podcast with Robert Griffin III. "Obviously, I've enjoyed working with him as a play-caller and as an offensive coordinator. But I just think his ability to lead, his ability to relate to guys and his ability to get the best out of his players is what truly separates him as a coach. He'll get his opportunity at some point. I'm not sure when, it might be next year, somewhere. It might be in ten years. But whenever he gets his opportunity he'll definitely show people why he should be a head coach for sure. I'm definitely, definitely a big fan of his."
Howell also responded to the comments about Bieniemy's hard coaching personality and some players not liking how hard the coordinator was.
The second-year quarterback says most of the players were just confued by the reports. "We had no idea what they were talking about? I was asking some of the reporters like, what are y'all talking about? Where are you getting this from? And nobody had an answer," he told RG3.
At this point, Kevin Sheehan chimes in: "They were getting it from their head coach!" A reference to comments Ron Rivera made during training camp in which he later wished he had back, saying he had "put my foot in my mouth."
It was in early August when Rivera said some players were "a little concerned" about the intensity of Bieniemy and had discussed it with him privately.
"I had a number of guys come to me and I said, 'Hey, just go talk to him.' I said, 'Understand what he's trying to get across to you.' I think as they go and they talk and they listen to him, it's been enlightening for a lot of these guys. I mean, it's a whole different approach," Rivera said. "Again, you're getting a different kind of player from the players back in the past, especially in light of how things are coming out of college football. So a lot of these young guys, they do struggle with certain things."
Sheehan had a strong take on the Bienimey praise and what happens next. Listen to the full bit on the audio player above!
