Ever since the departure of former owner, Dan Snyder back in 2023, the Washington Commanders have started to make wholesale changes under new boss, Josh Harris.
A New Start Under New Ownership For The Washington Commanders
Harris refrained from bringing in a new team at head coach and general manager for the 2023 season after his July purchase of the organization, preferring to wait until January, when all the prospective candidates would be available, to decide upon the future leaders of the historic franchise.
This eventually became former San Francisco 49ers personnel guru, Adam Peters, at general manager, and ex Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and Atlanta Falcons head coach, Dan Quinn, at head coach.
Eric Bieniemy Bought In To Re-Invigorate A Stagnant Washington Commanders Offense
Before all that, however, the Commanders made their final Snyder-led marquee signing in the 2023 offseason, where they managed to poach 2 x Super Bowl champion and Kansas City offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, to be their offensive play-caller.
Bieniemy was off to a slightly up-and-down start, where rumors started to swirl concerning some ruffling of feathers on the offensive side of the ball due to the New Orleans native’s “intensity”.
Yet, much of the significant progress shown in the play of now Seattle Seahawk quarterback, Sam Howell, can be attributed to Bieniemy’s creative play-calling, with the porous offensive line being the offense’s primary anchor to the surface of success.
However, it seems that much like his “intensity”, the Super Bowl champ has some other particularities in regards to his set rules for players off the field, per The Washington Post via the “brandon” X account.
Former #Commanders OC Eric Bieniemy reportedly did not allow players to wear a hat backwards last season 😳😳😳
OT Sam Cosmi told Washington Post, “That was something that we as players, offensive side, we weren’t allowed to wear our hat backwards”
(H/T:@obvlon) pic.twitter.com/5r6AGBuYmm
— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) June 20, 2024
Eric Bieniemy Banned All Offensive Players From Wearing Their Hat Backwards
In contrast to new head coach, Quinn, who flaunts his affinity for the backwards hat, which many of his players believe give him a relatable feel, or even indeed “swag”, Eric Bieniemy followed the not-so-old adage popularized by sports talk radio host, Colin Cowherd, who famously decries professionals who choose to reverse the position of their hat.
All coaches have their styles, and history has shown that multiple styles can lead to success and trophies: Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots were the epitomy of uniform, well-executed militarism encapsulated by the famous ‘Do Your Job’ slogan, whilst Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs’ maintain a more relaxed, ‘express yourself’ philosophy. And both have clearly worked.
It seems almost specifically contrarian of Bieniemy to ban backwards hats, however, almost like a direct mark of his authority having worked in his former boss, Reid’s shadow for the previous half decade. And it may also have been way for the University of Colorado alum to differentiate himself from his former mentor, moving into a more old-school directness away from Reid’s ‘live and let live’.
Regardless, it is certainly something that Cowherd will undoubtedly approve of when he manages to deliver a take on this, whilst Commanders offensive players can now enjoy the freedom of working under a backwards hat coaching enthusiast in Quinn.
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