Alex’s Search for Redskins Head Coaching Candidates, Part 3

December 27, 2019

by Alex Zeese

In my part three of my look at possible head coach candidates for the 2020 Redskins, I’m going to start looking at offensive coordinators who the team should be considering as potential replacements for the departed Jay Gruden next season.

The young hotshot offensive coordinator has become the NFL’s go-to, in-vogue head coaching candidate league-wide, so much so that it’s almost sickening. Last year, teams were desperate to find the next Sean McVay, but I have to wonder if that excitement will be a bit more tempered this off season. Half of those head coaching hires look like a bad mistakes at the end of the 2019 season. You have to figure that Ohioans are loathing their situation with Zach Taylor and Freddie Kitchens. Teams saw what McVay did and got desperate, thinking any young play caller could be the next superstar coach, but they seemed to have overlooked something: there were rumors about Sean McVay’s coaching talents going back to his days in the United Football League when he was in his early 20’s. He is a true rarity in the sport. That said, I am sure that teams looking for a new NFL head coach will still look towards offense first. It’s the nature of the game.

Kevin O’Connell, 34, Redskins offensive coordinator
Let’s start with Washington’s current offensive coordinator. O’Connell was touted by the Redskins front office over the offseason as the next Sean McVay since he’s another a young hot shot coordinator who came up as a quarterbacks coach under Jay Gruden. At the start of the season there was speculation that the head coaching job here would be passed to O’Connell sooner or later. After Gruden’s firing, Kevin’s been the one calling plays for the Redskins, with heavy input from interim head coach Bill Callahan. But given the team’s inability to move the ball downfield after Jay, you have to second guess the plan for O’Connell to take over the job someday.

Watch this team play. I just don’t see anything right now that makes me think O’Connell is anything special, nor do I get any real feeling that he’s ready to be a head coach like I did when watching McVay work. Yes the Redskins lack overall talent, but what are they trying to do to compensate?

Kellen Moore, 36, Dallas Cowboys Offensive Coordinator 
Let’s flip past Washington’s young hot shot coordinator and take a look at the one on the sidelines for the team’s most hated rival. Moore has only been retired as a player for 2 years, was a quarterbacks coach last year and is Dallas’ offensive coordinator this season. People were quickly talking about him being the coach in waiting for the Cowboys job should they finally move on from Jason Garrett, but in my opinion his lack of experience is a huge flag. Sean McVay started coaching as a position coach in 2008, meaning he was on a coaching staff for 8 seasons before finally getting a head coaching job. Kyle Shanahan’s first gig coaching was in ‘03. I just don’t think that 2 seasons is enough time for a guy to have learned many of the tricks of the trade that one needs to know in order to be a good head coach. That said, the offenses in Dallas have been effective for a few years now.

Eric Bieniemy, 50, Kansas City Chiefs
Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator in Kansas City for the past two years, helping run one of the most high-powered offenses in the NFL. He’s a long time running backs coach in both the NFL and in college. It feels a bit rare these days for a running backs coach to be someone who you would see on this kind of list, when people seem to be favoring former quarterbacks coaches as head coach candidates. Lots of fans seem interested in Bieniemy in the hope that he will be able to develop Dwayne Haskins in the same way that he helped Patrick Mahomes, though the two have very different playing styles. Of the offensive coordinators out there, Bieniemy would be my top choice. I think that the Andy Reid coaching tree has proven to be very fruitful in the past with guys like Doug Peterson, and one could even go back to Jon Gruden who had serious ties to Reid from their time together in Green Bay.