KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Thursday, the Chiefs lost one member of their coaching staff.
They could lose another before the offseason coaching carousel comes to a stop.
Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy's four-year interview tour will reach New Orleans for the Saints' head coaching vacancy, a source confirmed to The Kansas City Star. Per ESPN, that interview could take place Saturday.
The Saints have announced previous interviews with Doug Pederson (another former Reid assistant), Brian Flores and Aaron Glenn, though the Jaguars hired Pederson as their next head coach on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, the Giants announced they were hiring Chiefs quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Mike Kafka as their offensive coordinator. Kafka had been a presumed eventual replacement as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator.
A conversation with the Saints will mark Bieniemy's 15th known interview for a head coaching job in the past four NFL hiring cycles — four in 2019, three in 2020, six last season and two this offseason. He talked with the Denver Broncos last month, but they eventually hired Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to replace Vic Fangio.
Bieniemy's situation has been used to point out the ineffectiveness of the NFL's Rooney Rule, which was intended to secure more jobs for Black candidates by requiring teams to interview at least one diverse candidate for head coaching vacancies. But the league has just one Black head coach as of this writing.
And now Bieniemy's situation is mentioned as part of a discrimination lawsuit against the league. Earlier this week, former Miami Dolphins coach Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging discrimination based on race, and he used Bieniemy's inability to receive a head coaching opportunity as corroborating evidence.
"Without question, Mr. Bieniemy has the pedigree, track record and reputation to make him a sought-after Head Coach," the lawsuit states, before listing Bieniemy's resume.
That resume includes taking over as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator in 2018. In the four seasons since, the Chiefs have finished first, fifth, sixth and fourth in points. They've been in the top six in yards in all four seasons, as well.
Yet Bieniemy waits. He does not call the plays in Kansas City — a job that Reid reserves for himself. But neither have multiple recent hires across the NFL, including Hackett.
