Commander Country

Commanders' Eric Bieniemy 'Fired Up' to Coach 'Dynamic' QB Sam Howell

Sam Howell has the opportunity to start for Eric Bieniemy's offense during his first season with the Washington Commanders.

Jeremy Brener

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By leaving the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason, Eric Bieniemy is going from coaching two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes to someone else.

That "someone else" is probably going to be Sam Howell, who Ron Rivera tabbed as the "likely" starting quarterback going into OTA's.

Even if it appears to be a downgrade, Bieniemy is excited about the opportunity to coach the second-year pro.

"I can only base my evaluation on what he did coming out of college," Bieniemy said in his introductory press conference. "Now I did have an opportunity to see him play in that last game against the Dallas Cowboys. The kid is a dynamic football player. 

"He can make throws from different platforms. You can tell he has that baseball background. The thing that got me fired up was when he ran for that touchdown, he flexed, so that was some good stuff... I'm fired up about the opportunity to get to know the kid."

Howell, a fifth-round pick in last year's draft, didn't make his NFL debut until the final game of the season, a 26-6 win over the Cowboys. He showed promise, enough to get the approval of Ron Rivera going into the offseason, but Bieniemy didn't rule out the idea of bringing in someone to compete for the starting job next to Howell.

"You always want to create competition," Bieniemy said. "You want to make sure that we're getting the very best out of people at that position."

It's Bieniemy's job to get the best out of Howell, and everyone else on the offense. But he wouldn't have taken the leap of faith to Washington if he knew he couldn't do so.

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Jeremy Brener
JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.

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