Commanders News: Ron Rivera, Eric Bieniemy, London Fletcher and power rankings

Commanders player friction with Eric Bieniemy?

Getting a head coaching job has been a long time coming for Eric Bieniemy. With Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera's departure after the season almost inevitable, attention turns to whether or not the respected offensive mind is worthy of a long-awaited promotion.

Bieniemy's progressed Washington's offense and his work with quarterback Sam Howell deserves praise. However, there's been obvious friction between the coach and players almost from the moment he got into the building.

Some haven't been thrilled with Bieniemy's hard-nosed efforts, complaining to Rivera before the campaign and also reportedly asking the head coach to take back some power in recent weeks. This led Grant Paulsen from 106.7 The Fan to suggest the recommendations wouldn't be coming if Josh Harris' ownership group involved the players in the pending head coaching decision via USA Today Sports.

"I continue to hear that if this is up to the players, if they are counseled in any way by this ownership group, there will not be glowing endorsements by and large for Eric Bieniemy, from the guys on offense. That doesn’t mean I don’t think Bieniemy has done a pretty good job. I do. It doesn’t mean I don’t think Bieniemy has done an outstanding job developing Sam Howell. I do. I’m not sure his style works in today’s NFL as we think it might. I just continue to hear from people in and around the building that the players that are working under Bieniemy aren’t necessarily advocating for or standing on the table for him to become the guy."

- Grant Paulsen via USA Today Sports

Most of these players aren't fit to wear the famous burgundy and gold uniform. Soft doesn't begin to describe their attitude towards Bieniemy, which has caused unnecessary problems when the best thing would have been to get their heads down and work.