The Kansas City Chiefs’ first-team offense got chewed out by offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and the KC coaching staff at OTAs this week, according to the latest camp news from beat reporters Matt Derrick and Nick Jacobs.
On the June 4 episode of the “41 is the Mic” podcast with Derrick and Jacobs, the two Chiefs media members revealed that Bieniemy pulled the entire first-team offense that was in attendance — including quarterback Patrick Mahomes — after a string of mistakes during a 7-on-7 period.
“What you would call the first-team offense in a 7-on-7, because Mahomes is on the field, had three attempts at running a play, and something went wrong on all three of them,” Derrick relayed on the podcast, noting that he is not allowed to share certain details.
“One [attempt], a receiver lined up in the wrong spot,” the Chiefs Digest reporter continued. “I don’t remember specifically off the top of my head about the other two [mistakes], but I know that at one point, the receiver that made a mistake, I think it might have been his second mistake, [and] he just got pulled out and they put in a new receiver for the third try.
“And when that [third] play got mixed up, and they were once again [in the] wrong places and not everybody was on the right page… Eric Bieniemy… he lost his ‘stuff,’ Nick. We could hear every single word that Eric Bieniemy said, and he screamed at the offense to get out of there.”
According to Derrick, this embarrassing pulling of the starters included Mahomes, although he didn’t appear to be the main player at fault. Derrick and Jacobs were not willing to reveal the identity of the skill position players who were “in the doghouse.”
Chiefs Wide Receivers Draw the Ire of Eric Bieniemy in Patrick Mahomes-Led Portion of OTAs
GettyKansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy wasn’t afraid to pull a Patrick Mahomes-led offense off the field at OTAs.
At the end of the day, this may sound like bad news for the Chiefs, but it’s actually positive.
Under Matt Nagy, it felt like the wide receivers and skill position players were making a lot of mistakes. Perhaps that’s because Nagy was known as a very relaxed coach when it came to disciplining his players.
Bieniemy is the opposite. He’s the drill sergeant on the field and always has been, and maybe that’s exactly what KC needs after their first playoff absence since Mahomes was drafted.
After practice, Derrick quoted Bieniemy on the topic, who said: “Those lessons need to be taught when those situations present themselves.” And he couldn’t be more right.
Sure, the wide receivers were the first to draw the ire of Bieniemy at OTAs, but they won’t be the last. As Derrick and Jacobs discussed on “41 is the Mic,” head coach Andy Reid cannot take on the role of both good cop and bad cop.
He needs his “bad cop,” and that’s been missing with Bieniemy coaching elsewhere in recent seasons.
To put it bluntly, playtime is over in Kansas City, and hopefully this shift in mentality leads the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl.
Which Wide Receivers Might Have Angered Coaches in Bieniemy News?
This is total speculation, so there’s no way to confirm who pissed off Bieniemy unless a beat reporter starts leaking information, but we can probably narrow down the list of candidates.
Derrick and Jacobs phrased it as the “first-team offense.” Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce were not at OTAs this week, so you can obviously rule them out.
The most likely starting wide receivers and tight ends after that would be Xavier Worthy, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Royals, Noah Gray, Nikko Remigio, and Jason Brownlee.
The remainder of the Chiefs WR corps is extremely young and unlikely to get reps with Mahomes. While ex-draft pick Jared Wiley or second-year UDFA Jake Briningstool would probably be next in line at tight end behind Gray.
Chances are, at least three or four of these eight pass-catchers were put on blast by Bieniemy and new wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea. Let’s hope they learned their lesson.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy Put Several Starters on Blast at OTAs: Report appeared first on HEAVY.