Let’s add five more names to the Broncos HC search. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Denver requested permission to interview Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn (Twitter link) and Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy (Twitter link) for their head coaching vacancy. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Broncos also requested permission to interview Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo (Twitter link) and Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (Twitter link). Finally, Mike Klis of 9News in Denver reports (via Twitter) that the Broncos requested permission to interview Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Hackett will interview Saturday, according to Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, one of the 10 candidates linked to this job already, will begin the interview run by meeting with the team Thursday.
[RELATED: Broncos Request Three Interviews For HC Vacancy]
After being out of the game for much of last season, with the Falcons firing him after a bad start, Quinn has moved himself back onto the head-coaching radar. The Cowboys’ defense has improved significantly in his first season overseeing the unit. He figures to generate interest from other teams once more vacancies emerge. Quinn previously refused an interview with the Jaguars until after the season.
Bieniemy has been with the Chiefs since Andy Reid’s 2013 Kansas City arrival. Thought to be a slam-dunk hire in both the 2020 and ’21 offseasons, the 52-year-old assistant has failed to land a head coaching job. Taking over as Kansas City’s OC from Matt Nagy, who followed Doug Pederson in being hired for an HC post, Bieniemy has been in this role throughout Patrick Mahomes‘ dominant run as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback.
Mayo had a standout career with the Patriots, with the former 10th-overall pick earning two Pro Bowl nods and a Super Bowl ring during his eight seasons in New England. Mayo rejoined the organization as their linebackers coach in 2019. While New England is currently operating without a true defensive coordinator, Mayo (along with Steve Belichick) is assumed to be atop the defensive coaching depth chart.
Hackett served as the Jaguars offensive coordinator between 2016 and 2018, including a 2017 campaign where the Jaguars offense ranked toward the top of the NFL in a number of categories. The veteran coach was canned midway through the 2018 season, and he’s spent the past three years serving as Green Bay’s OC. The Packers offense had a standout season in 2020, and while the team finished 2021 with the best record in the league, both the passing game and the running game have taken a step back this year.
Moore inked a three-year extension with the Cowboys towards the close of the 2020 season, but he’s remained a hot name in coaching circles. The rival Eagles requested an interview with him in January of 2021 before ultimately going with Nick Sirianni.
So much talent on that team, but not the most appealing job for an offensive mind with that QB situation.
Or it is appealing because the new coach can choose whoever they want for QB. Draft, trade, free agency.
Except the trade market might never materialize, the QBs in the draft all have major question marks, and who’s the major upgrade in free agency this year?
I think it’s sad that Eric Bieniemy is becoming the Rooney Rule poster child…
By that I assume you mean a highly accomplished Black coach and ex-player who is consistently bypassed for white coaches? Bypassed in a league that is made up of a player pool that is about 2/3 black?
Yeah. He’s a symbol of why the Rooney ruled needed to be implemented in the first place. Because guys like Biemeny wouldn’t have even gotten an interview in the past. And clearly, ownership still has a problem with giving qualified Black coaches jobs to lead teams made up of mostly Black players.
Oh jeez. You don’t think that if he was the play Callerin KC that he would be a HC already? Nagy didn’t help his situation either. It has nothing to do with his race. He is being drug around by the coat tails of Andy Ried and everyone in the NFL knows that.
Andy Reid has always called plays. It has not prevented other offensive coordinators he had who either didn’t or shared the duties from getting jobs, including Nagy, who called plays for all of eight games.
A lot, and I mean a lot of Andy Reid’s OCs have been named head coaches, including ones that did not exclusively call plays. Only one of them has won a Super Bowl with him -Bienemy. Do you really want to go there?
And there are other head coaches in the league right now who were offensive coordinators that didn’t call plays. Matt LaFleur never called plays. Neither did Zac Taylor. Or Joe Judge, unless you really consider a ST coordinator a play caller. All got jobs before Bienemy. Frack Reich also never called plays.
Beyond that, it’s a larger issue than Bieinemy. Right now, there are four head coaches of color in a league where 75 percent of the players are not white.
Bienemy has had character issues in the past, it’s probably relevant to bring that up when discussing his career prospects.
I don’t know. I mean Gregg Williams was the poster boy for having “character issues” yet it didn’t prevent him from getting a couple of HC gigs.
So did Matt Patricia. And Urban Meyer.
Okay, but we’re not talking about them right now. You’re bringing in outside names to this discussion, which concerned Eric Bienemy and why he had yet to be hired as an HC. There are plenty of questions people have about him, and none of us are privy to how his last hiring process went down. I have questions too, and it does seem odd to me, but I also haven’t reached a solid conclusion.
For the record, I would prefer Bienemy to any of those names if it were me and I knew what I know currently. Williams should have never gotten a job again-though it’s also worth noting that he was hired as a DC, not an HC.
There’s a reason he’s been interviewed so often and not hired— passed over for both white and minority coaches alike.
BIE-NE-MY! BIE-NE-MY!
this guy could TRANSFORM the Broncos’ offense.
Agreed. Would love Bieniemy.
If anyone hires Hackett, we’ll throw in Barry and the ST coordinator for free.
I’m not sure Quinn is ever going to be extremely successful as a head coach, but it’s worth noting that his defense has changed significantly since coming to Dallas in terms of scheme. I think that he did end up learning a lot, but hiring him after firing Fangio seems like the Broncos would be hoping for a sideways move at best.
Seems to me bringing back Wade Phillips would be a better idea than hiring Quinn.
The only things a football head coach needs to possess is leadership and respect of his players. You have an OC and all his specialists running the offense and a DC running the defense.
It’s what eventually gets coaches fired, they don’t forget how to coach, they’ve just lost the (respect) of the dressing room.
It’s why Belichek is so successful, he will always command respect and why others are doomed from the start because they never gain the respect of the players.
So whether Bieniemy, for instance, calls the plays is moot. The question should be will players respect him, I believe so but that should be the basis of a head coach. Part leader part psychologist and leave the X’s and O’s to his “expert” assistants who don’t necessarily need a personality to be successful. The Broncos, and many other teams,always make the mistake of hiring the “hot” DC or OC to be a head coach but just because you know the game doesn’t always equate to knowing how to handle and inspire 60-70 men at once.
There’s certainly some truth in your comment. It got me thinking of my favorite coach George Allen. He was a master psychologist who had the total respect and loyalty of his players but he was so intense and demanding that the front office people eventually decided they couldn’t work with him anymore.