Mike Benevides returns to CFL coaching: how will he do as Edmonton's DC?

Former B.C. Lions' head coach Mike Benevides will be back on the sidelines this coming year, but in the green and gold of the Edmonton Eskimos. A move rumoured for a month was made official Thursday when the Eskimos announced Thursday that they'd hired Benevides as their new defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Benevides should have a substantial role to play with Edmonton, as new head coach Jason Maas' experience is all on the offensive side of the ball. How will he do with the Eskimos?

Benevides was fired by B.C. following a 9-9 campaign with a first-round playoff loss in 2014, and he posted an overall record of 33-21 in three years at the helm of the Lions. That's not bad at all, especially considering that B.C. got worse this year under replacement George Cortez, going 7-11 with a first-round playoff loss. It's the defences that really should be looked at, though, as that's where Benevides' expertise came. Rich Stubler was the team's defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013, but Benevides was still involved in their strategy, and they did very well both years, allowing a league-low 19.7 points per game in 2012 (in one of the best defensive campaigns this league had seen recently) and a third-best 25.6 points per game in 2013. They also impressed in 2014 when Mark Washington became DC, allowing 20.3 points per game (third-best in the league). Those are three solid seasons that speak well for Benevides' defensive acumen.

We can also look further back to Benevides' stint as a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under then-Lions' head coach Wally Buono, from 2008 to 2011. B.C. allowed a league-low 21.4 points per game in 2011 and won the Grey Cup. 2010 saw them give up 25.9 points per game, but that was fourth-best in the league. The low point of Benevides' DC tenure was 2009, where the Lions allowed 27.9 points per game, tied for second-worst in the CFL. 2008 was a bit better, as they gave up 26.6 (fourth-best in the league). Thus, Benevides' defences were all upper-half (by points per game, at least) apart from 2009, and they improved as he settled into the role more in 2010 and 2011.

There will be some challenges ahead for Benevides despite the Eskimos' great defensive play in 2015. Edmonton's personnel group was built for Chris Jones' unconventional blitz-heavy defence, focusing heavily on versatility, so it will be interesting to see if he tries to adapt that to the more conservative schemes that frequently worked well in B.C. (especially when he worked in tandem with Stubler) or the more traditional blitz packages he also utilized, or if he modifies his playbook to be more like the one Jones found success with. The Eskimos have also already lost one key piece of that defence, linebacker Dexter McCoil, and others may follow in free agency. Still, Benevides has a solid defensive resume, and he looks like a good candidate to help Edmonton try and maintain defensive dominance. We'll see how he does.