When it comes to the Detroit Lions current head coach opening, there have been plenty of candidates mentioned as potential fits but none have been mentioned more than Robert Saleh and Eric Bieniemy.
Saleh is the odds-on favorite to become the Lions’ next head coach as he is from Dearborn (in case you have not heard that a million times) and in my opinion, there is not a better candidate for the job.
But Bieniemy, in my opinion, is also a solid candidate if Saleh takes a job elsewhere as he has been with a winning franchise (Kansas City Chiefs) with a dominant offense.
On Wednesday, a couple of current Lions’ players, who are connected to Bieniemy, raved about him being a head coach in the near future.
“I think he’ll be awesome,” Chase Daniel said. “I don’t know what else he needs to do to prove himself. He’s a very great person. He’s strict, but he’s fun. He’s a player’s coach and he expects excellence, especially in the offensive positional groups. I can only imagine what that’s going to be like when it takes to the whole team.
“He’s really good in front of guys,” Daniel said. “I feel like this league, like as an NFL head coach, you got to be good in front of the guys. You have to earn their respect. You have to be a leader each and every day, everything you do. If you’re not authentic, and I think that he is, then guys are going to see right through you. I think he’s super authentic. I think he’s a perfect guy for a head job.”
Daniel added that Bieniemy having a Super Bowl ring as an offensive coordinator gives him automatic respect because he knows what it takes to get to the top of the mountain.
“It’s automatic respect, right?” Daniel said. “Not many people have a ring. You come in there and you don’t flaunt it, but you say, ‘Hey, listen, this is what it takes to get a ring. I just did it.’ It’s automatic respect. How can you argue with that if you’re a player in a room and you’re like, ‘No, I don’t believe you. I want to do it this way.’ You’ll be like, ‘All right, bought in, let’s go win a ring,’ because, ultimately, why are you playing this game? It’s to win a championship. It’s to win a ring, and they’ve done it. It’s pretty special.”
Lions linebacker Reggie Ragland also had great things to say about Bieniemy as a coach.
“First two games I sat out, but I was still on scout team and I made it my sole purpose during practice to mess up practice for our offense,” Ragland said. “During that time I was doing that he was like, ‘Hey man, Reggie, we see you. Keep fighting. Your chance is going to come back to you and when it comes, you just gotta be ready.’
“… I appreciate him as a person and as a coach,” Ragland said. “He’s one of the realist dudes, straightforward dudes you’re ever going to see. He’s a helluva coach. I can’t say nothing bad about him, so I won’t. He’s a great dude and he’s an excellent coach, (and an) excellent person at the end of the day, too. He loves his players, so I respect him a lot.”
Nation, would you like to see the Lions hire Eric Bieniemy as their next head coach?
