Eric Bieniemy may be away from Chiefs camp, but his fingerprints are still all over it.
Since July 26, the offensive coordinator has been absent from Missouri Western while his wife, Mia, recovers in Virginia from a shooting their 27-year-old son Elijah is charged in connection with. That physical distance is real. So is the effect he continues to have on Kansas City’s offense.
The most obvious stand-in has been interim offensive coordinator Joe Bleymaier, whose style is far quieter than Bieniemy’s. Bleymaier laughed when asked about the difference.
“Definitely a different style than E.B.,” Bleymaier said with a smile earlier this week. “Although I’ve lost my voice here already, so some of him has worn off on me. But, yeah, everyone has a different style.”
Bleymaier said the biggest focus this camp has not been some sweeping schematic overhaul. It has been about setting the tone.
“So less so maybe schematically or philosophically what we’re going to do on the field,” he added, “it’s been a mindset … and just bringing everybody together and holding them to that standard.”
That standard still carries Bieniemy’s voice, even if it’s coming through screens and phones instead of from the sideline.
Running back Kenneth Walker III summed up the mood with a simple message to Bieniemy: “Just take your time. We’ll hold it down for you.”
That “we” matters. The whole offensive staff has taken that approach, and Bleymaier said Bieniemy has been reaching out more lately with football input. He described it as hearing that “little voice in the back of your head” from Bieniemy.
Walker said Bieniemy has been part of Zoom calls with the offense and has been giving critiques there. Receiver and return specialist Nikko Remigio said the influence is still obvious.
“If it’s not E.B. that’s saying it,” he said Thursday, “it’s the coaching staff that’s reiterating the stuff that he’s saying.”
General manager Brett Veach went a step further when describing how connected Bieniemy still is to practice.
“With technology, E.B. is live-streamed in (to practices),” Veach said with a smile Thursday.
Veach even told a story from the sideline, where he was standing next to coach Andy Reid when his phone rang. Cell phones are off-limits on the field, but when he saw Bieniemy was calling, Veach answered.
No sooner had he picked up than Bieniemy said, “Put Coach on.”
Bieniemy then relayed a coaching point to Reid about rookie running back Emmett Johnson, telling him he needed to be 8 yards back instead of where he was lined up.
“That’s the thing that is so refreshing to have back …” Veach said, speaking as though Bieniemy had never left. “There’s never a safe space with him.”
That edge is part of why Veach believes Bieniemy matters so much to the offense. During his previous run in Kansas City, the Chiefs led the league in scoring twice under Bieniemy and finished in the top 6 in scoring in all five seasons. Since then, they have fallen to 15th, 15th and 21st over the last three years.
“It’s like you don’t realize what you missed until it’s back,” Veach said. “... Every organization and every team and every player in each position group, everyone needs a kick in the (rear).”
Veach also tied last season’s 6-11 finish to some of the same issues that had crept in after years of winning, pointing to the importance of details and discipline. The Chiefs had played in three straight Super Bowls and five of the last six overall before that downturn.
“You don’t become proficient at those things unless you’re buttoned up and you’re locked in,” Veach said. “If you take your foot off the gas here, you’re going to take your foot off the gas on Sundays.”
Bleymaier has been the one carrying that standard in person, and Veach made it clear why he trusts him. Bleymaier has been with the Chiefs since 2016, but his connection with Reid and Veach goes back decades. He overlapped with them at the University of Delaware, started his NFL career as a Philadelphia Eagles intern under Reid, and later earned his law degree from Marquette.
“When he got done with a law degree,” Veach joked, “I think he realized that ‘real work’ wasn’t smart and came back to football.”
Veach said Bleymaier is deeply cerebral and has an endless recall for game situations.
“He’s one of those guys that has, like, a video library that never ends,” Veach said.
He offered an example: Veach might mention a two-point conversion he saw in a college game, and Bleymaier would usually have the answer ready.
“’Oh, yeah, come on in: 1984 Rose Bowl, they ran it right here.’ And (he’d) pull it up.”
That kind of detail has made Bleymaier “instrumental” to the offense in recent years, Veach said, and it helps explain why he has been able to keep the operation steady now. He is also trying to channel Bieniemy without turning into a copy of him.
“I think the guys want to be held accountable, and they want someone to just constantly remind them (to) not let anything slide …” Bleymaier said. “When you have 100 plays, the tendency can be to point out the stuff that’s egregious and then to let the little stuff slide … so that it doesn’t appear for 100 plays you’re just constantly nitpicking.
“But that’s the role of the coordinator. That’s the role of whoever’s in that position, is to continually uphold the standard.”
He said the team is functioning without a leadership gap.
“We miss E.B., but we don’t have a leadership void. Everybody kind of understands what the standard is.”
And with Bieniemy still so involved from afar, that standard keeps showing up everywhere.
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