Count Eric Bieniemy as part of the Isiah Pacheco fan club. The Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator was asked about the former Rutgers football running back on Wednesday and he was quite optimistic about the rookie’s performance in training camp.
A seventh-round pick of the Chiefs in this past spring’s NFL draft, Pacheco has turned heads from rookie minicamp all the way through his preseason debut this past Saturday.
Against the Bears on Saturday, Pacheco played some significant snaps with the first-team offense. He had two carries for six yards and one reception for five yards. He also had a 37-yard kickoff return.
His offensive coordinator likes what he has seen so far from the former All-Big Ten running back.
“He’s a very confident young man. Okay, now you’re talking about a kid that plays hard. Pacheco plays hard,” Bieniemy told reporters this week.
“The thing I need Pacheco to do and first of all, he’s doing a great job. He has (a) tremendous work ethic. As a young back, this is probably one of the toughest things that they need to learn is allowing the game to come to him. Learning how to be a patient runner, OK? Understand exactly what’s going on up front. So now he can have a better feel on how to square his shoulders up, press it and then read it out from there.”
Not only is Bieniemy a tremendous offensive coordinator (and arguably the best assistant in the NFL), but he is familiar with the running back position.
In college at Colorado, he was twice an All-Big Eight selection. He was a second-round pick in the 1991 NFL draft who spent nine seasons in the league before moving into coaching.
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The athletic skillset of Pacheco was often hard to see at Rutgers where a rebuilding offense often struggled to showcase his speed and ability to get to the second level. With the Chiefs, he won’t have the same excuse.
Bieniemy cited Pacheco’s intangibles
“But as far as work ethic? Works hard. As far as a tough runner, who will try and find four and a half yards? Checks that box right and then on top of that, he does a great job in the pass game where he’s catching it and he’s still learning to perfect his craft in pass pro,” Bieniemy said during his weekly press conference.
“And it isn’t so much with his attitude and blocking, it is just making sure he knows exactly who to pick up. And that’s, that takes a little while that’s for young guy.”
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