Eric Bieniemy, improbably but yet unsurprisingly, is set to return to Kansas City again in 2021, but for that to happen a major order of business must first be worked out: he'll need a contract.
Adam Schefter reported the Chiefs' offensive coordinator's contract is set to expire after Sunday's Super Bowl.
Bieniemy's contract was allowed to expire because, Schefter reports, both sides believed there would be no point in negotiating a new deal since surely he would become a head coach by this point. But that is not going to happen barring something completely unforeseen, and so they'll have to hammer out a new contract at some point in the near future.
It's theoretically possible some team convinces Bieniemy his head coaching prospects would be better away from Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, but Schefter reports Bieniemy wants to be back in Kansas City -- he's been there since 2013 -- and Kansas City wants him back.
"We've had a great deal of success here that's placed me in the situation where I've been recognized to interview for some jobs," Bieniemy said of not getting a job in the NFL's latest cycle. "Those interviews, for whatever reason, I have not been hired, which is OK because at the end of the day I still have an opportunity to go out there and help our team pursue and obtain our goal.
"Yes, there is a focal point where you are focused on that interview. But once that interview is over, it's time to turn the page. I can't sit here and dwell in pity because when all is said and done with I have a responsibility to the Kansas City Chiefs."
Bieniemy's situation has become one of the major focal points for the NFL's league office. "I'm not sure there's an issue we spent more time with our ownership on," Roger Goodell said in his state of the league press conference on Thursday. NFLPA executive committee member Wesley Woodyard addressed it as well.
"We see ourselves as potential leaders within the NFL community," he said. "We aspire to be head coaches. We want to be GMs. But if you have guys like Eric Bieniemy, who's been an NFL legend, who's done great things within his offense, with the team that he's on, going to back-to-back Super Bowls -- that frustrates us as players."