Commanders' Eric Bieniemy Acting Like Chiefs' Andy Reid

Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera says offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has structured training camp in a way that feels familiar to him.

Washington Commanders training camp has had an old-school feel to it in 2023, according to coach Ron Rivera. 

Specifically, it's felt similar to the camp that Andy Reid ran with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, his first season leading an NFL team. At that time, Rivera was the linebackers coach for Reid. And Eric Bieniemy -- now Rivera's assistant coach and offensive coordinator in Washington -- was a running back entering what would be his ninth and final season playing in the NFL. 

When asked to recall that first Training Camp that Reid lead at Lehigh University, Rivera gave a vivid description. 

“It was unbelievably hot," Rivera remembered. "Secondly, we didn't realize the terrain of the facility going up and down those hills, how far the fields were from the facility from where we were staying. It was an older campus and it was good old-fashioned two-a-days. I mean, we padded morning and afternoon. We went straight, I think it was five straight days like that before the players got their first break and the coaches got their first break and it was one of those things." 

Obviously, it's a different world 24 years later. Two-a-days haven't been a thing since they were nixed in the collective bargaining agreement signed prior to the 2011 season. Teams are much more conscious of managing the workloads of veteran players in the summer. 

But Reid remains known for running one of the more physical training camps, which Bieniemy has studied for the past decade in a variety of roles on his staff with the Kansas City Chiefs. So it should come as no surprise that when Rivera delegated structuring Training Camp practices to Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator has developed a modern day version of the program Reid was running back in 1999. 

"It's interesting, because I told you guys one of the things that I wanted Eric to do was I wanted him to script and schedule everything for Training Camp and he has," Rivera said. 

"And looking at it, with the exception of it not being real two-a-days, it's almost very, very similar," Rivera continued. "I mean, Coach Reid has never really changed anything. He may have refined some things, but the bones of it is very similar. If we had had two-a-days it might have been.”

It remains to be seen whether Bieniemy's hard-nosed will get buy-in from the players in Washington, which could determine whether he ever gets an opportunity to be a coach himself. But if you're going to emulate any coach in the league, Reid is a pretty good one to pick. 

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