The Tennessee Titans are looking at two Kansas City Chiefs assistant coaches for their offensive coordinator vacancy.
The Titans fired OC Todd Downing following the conclusion of the 2022 regular season after their offense took quite a few steps back since he took over for Arthur Smith in 2021. They could look to fill the position from Kansas City’s coaching ranks per a new report.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Titans have submitted interview requests with both Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy and QB coach / Senior Offensive Assistant Matt Nagy for their vacant offensive coordinator job. It’s unclear if either has accepted the interview requests and plans to interview with Tennessee at this time.
The Tennessee Titans have requested permission to interview Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and senior assistant/QBs coach Matt Nagy for their open OC job, per sources.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 15, 2023
You might be asking a few questions here. Firstly, why are the Titans allowed to request an interview with Bieniemy? His contract is up at the conclusion of the season.
Secondly, why would Bieniemy consider a lateral move and not a head coaching job? There’s a sense that if Bieniemy goes and proves himself outside of Kansas City, it’d put him on the fast track to a head coaching position. Would he be willing to do that when he already has interviewed for a head coaching vacancy in this cycle? It doesn’t seem likely, but it’s hard to tell what Bieniemy’s thought process is after having been passed over for head coaching jobs so many times.
As for Nagy, Patrick Mahomes’ growth and success this year have been notable. It stands to reason with the rough rookie season that Malik Willis had that the Titans would want their next offensive coordinator to have a quarterback-oriented background. It’s just unclear if Nagy would be willing to leave Kansas City again so soon after his return from Chicago, especially when he’d be in line for promotion should Bieniemy leave this year.
