Tag: OC Eric Bieniemy 2023

Commanders release WR Byron Pringle

Who returns kickoffs for the Commanders on Sunday?

Nothing has come easy for Byron Pringle.

On Friday, the Commanders, conducting their final practice before flying to Tampa, released the wide receiver, who came into the league undrafted in 2018.

The majority of those following the Commanders closely believed that Pringle had made the 53-man roster to provide a veteran receiver who would also return kickoffs.

This raises the question of who the Commanders use on Sunday to return kickoffs. Would they promote Kazmeir Allen from the practice squad to handle the duty?

Or might they have Olamide Zaccheaus help return kickoffs? However, Zaccheaus, in his five seasons, has only returned three punts and two kickoffs. Jamison Crowder has again retained the job of punt returner.

The release of Pringle also raises the question of whether the coaching staff felt another receiver on the practice squad was looking better on the practice fields than Pringle and was consequently determined to make the move.

It could also be that the team has signed and brought in receiver Noah Brown, who makes Pringle expendable. This would allow the Commanders to bring up someone else from the practice squad at another position where they feel the need is more urgent.

Pringle, who played at Kansas State, signed with the Chiefs in May of 2018 and was waived in the preseason of both 2018 and 2019 before returning to play three seasons for the Chiefs (2019-21).

After being with the Bears in 2022, Pringle was a rather late signee to Washington in 2023. Since March 2023, Pringle had been a free agent, and no team had signed him. In late July, after the mini camps were completed, Washington suddenly signed Pringle, most likely an Eric Bieniemy choice from coaching Pringle in Kansas City.

Pringle caught 14 passes for 161 yards (11.5) in 2023 for the Commanders.

How wrong was Eric Bieniemy for the Commanders in 2023?

A lot of ugly numbers here.

By the numbers, according to NFL analytics expert Warren Sharp, Eric Bieniemy was a disaster for the Commanders in the 2023 season.

Sharp, owner of SharpAnalysis.com, was a guest of the “Al Galdi Podcast” on Thursday, providing some real detailed numbers regarding Eric Bieniemy as the Washington Commanders offensive coordinator. Here we go:

“You’re passing the ball a lot; you should be able to have some explosive plays. But the Commanders were terrible in producing explosive plays. They had only 19 plays of 30+ yards for the entire season. Even though they had 736 dropbacks (26th in explosive plays while #1 in dropbacks).”

“This is when, on occasion, you might want to run the ball creatively just because the defense is playing pass. And yet, despite those light boxes (defense playing less men in the box), they ranked 29th in EPA per rush on first down.”

“He used the lowest rate of play-action in the NFL (32nd), the 22nd rate of motion, the 5th rate of shotgun, and the 6th rate of 11 personnel. They have no disguises to the defense, they don’t do anything to help their young quarterback. The defense is already playing the pass…as much as we know that Sam Howell struggled and is now gone, Eric Bieniemy did absolutely nothing to help Sam Howell, in my opinion.”

“I know for a lot of years people were clamoring to give EB that opportunity, and it’s just a shame. I didn’t see him do anything with that opportunity to help a team. It was like he came in with the mindset, ‘I have to pass the ball, passing wins games, this is what we did in KC’.”

“But then he brought nothing else or no other adjustments to the Commanders to help raise the floor, and as a result, the floor was extremely low for your offense, and you struggled. As a result, you fell behind in games massively. You scored only 39 first-quarter points the entire season, which was the third lowest of any team in the NFL.”

“You trailed by over 5 points a game after the first quarter, which was the #1 largest deficit in the NFL. You didn’t make any adjustments in the second quarter, which means you trailed by the largest deficit of any team by halftime of 133 points.”

Sharp concluded that Bieniemy “got it all wrong in the process.”