Eric Bieniemy is entering his first season with the Washington Commanders after five prolific seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Washington’s offense struggled last year. Eric Bieniemy’s won the Super Bowl, so it is not hard to see why the Commanders are loving to have him on the team.
However, Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera admitted that some players “concerned” with new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s intensity had asked to meet with him to get him to tone it down.
Now a former player under him is speaking out.
LeSean McCoy does not believe Eric Bieniemy’s aggressive approach works with the modern athlete. Colin Cowherd asked the former running back his thoughts on the storyline on “The Herd” on FS1 on Wednesday.
McCoy played a limited role on a Chiefs squad that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after the 2019 season. He said he was taken aback by how Bieniemy communicated with the club.
“I was part of that Kansas City Chiefs championship team, and it was terrible,” McCoy said. “One of the first things I noticed is how he talks to the players.”
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McCoy also pointed out that head coach Andy Reid adjusted his coaching style from their time with the Philadelphia Eagles to their Kansas City reunion.
However, he noted that Bieniemy was unwilling to adapt his disciplinarian approach. McCoy said that Andy Reid is great at X’s and O’s, but his real strength is that he can “relate” to players and “adjust” with the times.
“You got to change with the times,” McCoy said. “I think with Bieniemy, he’s still stuck in that old, ‘back in the days’ where the coach is cussing the players out. That’s not how it’s played nowadays.”
“If you notice, all the players he has issues with, fights with, arguments on the sidelines … if you notice when the players speak of Eric Bieniemy, they say He’s a really good coach. He’s disciplined. He cares. He has your back. They don’t say nothing about how he’s teaching them, how he’s making them better. Because he didn’t do a lot of that, when I was with him I didn’t see a lot of that.”
McCoy has spoken on him before as he previously cited Bieniemy’s intense demeanor as “the reason” why the coordinator has come up short in his quest to become a head coach.
“There’s a reason why every year they keep hyping him up to get a head coaching job, or an offensive coordinator job somewhere else, and he don’t get one,” McCoy said last May on the “I Am Athlete” podcast.
“He talks to players a certain way, and some players would take it. I wouldn’t take it. There’s some questions I’m gonna ask. Everyone’s accountable.
“It’s not because he’s a black coach [that he’s not getting hired]. That’s not the reason.”
McCoy finishes his professional football career having rushed for 11,102 yards and 73 touchdowns with 3,898 yards and 16 additional scores receiving.
