Chiefs' Andy Reid denies Eric Bieniemy has friction with QB Patrick Mahomes, others

As Nick Shook wrote for the NFL's website, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found himself answering questions about an exchange he had with offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy during a game in early December. Per Mark Powell of Fansided, a recent story posted by Chiefs Kingdom suggested friction had developed between Bieniemy and Mahomes and other offensive players throughout this past season, but that piece has since been deleted. 

To the surprise of many within the NFL community, no team hired Bieniemy, widely respected as one of the league's top assistants, to be a head coach this winter, and the 52-year-old ultimately returned to the Chiefs on a one-year deal that theoretically could allow him to become a club's main man as soon as next January. Chiefs coach Andy Reid spoke at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday and attempted to pour cold water over the idea Bieniemy doesn't get along with the franchise's star signal-caller. 

"The whole thing with Eric Bieniemy has gotten kind of fabricated," Reid explained, according to Adam Teicher of ESPN. "We were on vacation and over the two weeks I came back and all of a sudden it was that I didn't like Eric and Eric didn't like me and Patrick Mahomes and everybody else.

"That's not the case. We all get along good, and I'm glad he's back with us and rolling. My thought was that he potentially would get a head-coaching job, which I would have been happy with, too. But that's not the way it worked out."

Reid originally commented in January he thought "this year" would be when Bieniemy, who's held his current role since 2018, would become a head coach. 

"It does surprise me a bit," Reid added Tuesday when speaking about Bieniemy returning for another season with the Chiefs. "He's a heck of a football coach."