When Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy opened his media availability on Friday, he made it abundantly clear that his focus was on the Buffalo Bills. He refused to answer any questions about new Chiefs RB Le’Veon Bell and deferred those questions to Andy Reid and Brett Veach.
Of course, Chiefs beat reporters were persistent and got him to answer at a few questions. Bieniemy was asked about what the addition of Bell means for Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Bieniemy answered and offered a vote of confidence for his rookie running back.
“I will answer this like this—first of all, we drafted Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) for a reason,” Bieniemy told reporters on Friday. “Clyde is doing a heck of a job. The rest of that, I’m going to allow Coach to address that because he is the Head Coach for a reason and Brett Veach is the General Manager for a reason. Then after they address all that, I’ll make sure that I jump in. But Clyde is doing a heck of a job. We have been very proud of what our guys have put on tape.”
The addition of Bell has nothing to do with Edwards-Helaire’s performance or his ability to be a ‘complete’ running back moving forward. Instead, this move to add Bell was about stacking good players and depth at a position that can see a lot of attrition throughout the course of a 16-game season.
“Well, I know when I played you could never have enough good players,” Bieniemy said. “So, you want to make sure that you have great depth at every particular position because you never know when the next man is going to be called upon to play that role. So, whether it’s two playing that throughout the course of the game, sometimes three with a third-down back included, the thing you want to do is make sure that you have the right amount of ammo to go out there and help you be as prolific as you can be. It doesn’t matter, talent is talent. You want to make sure, regardless of position, that you’re ready to go.”
Beyond Edwards-Helaire, Chiefs running backs have accounted for a measly 17 attempts for 67 yards on the season. Were Edwards-Helaire to go down with injury or illness, they’d be faced with limited options. Now, with Bell in the mix, the team should feel very confident in the amount of ammo they have to go out and help the offense.
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