By Rich Tandler
The Redskins and other NFL teams start the first offseason under the new CBA and there are a few peculiarities that the players and coaches will have to get used to.
For example, players will be able to go to Redskins Park and talk to the coaches. But, according to the new rules, they will not be able to talk about football.
What?
No, there is no lockout in effect but the CBA prohibits players and coaches from talking to each other about football until the voluntary offseason workout program starts on the third Monday in April. The players can’t be coached, they can’t talk about tackling technique or what will be added to the playbook. Maybe they could chat about Sunday’s Super Bowl but even that might cross the line.
Here’s another quirk. Let’s say John Beck and Terrence Austin show up at Redskins Park and want to work on some pass patterns. They can do that, but Beck couldn’t throw a football to Austin. That’s because under the new rules the players can’t have footballs on the field at the team facility.
So, to sum it up, at a football team’s facility, employees are prohibited from playing football and talking about football.
The idea is to give the players a break from football and let them focus on returning to school to get their degrees or to pursue business interests. And there is nothing preventing Beck and Austin from finding a high school field and tossing a ball around there. But, despite the sound reasoning, it sure does sound odd.
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