Here's a shocker, NFL assistant coaches might be violating the rules of the lockout by communicating with players. Go ahead, clean up that cold beverage that you just spit on your monitor. According to Mike Freeman at CBS Sports, coaches and players are connecting via various means and discussing everything from the playbook to the lockout (ironic, huh?) all while they are forbidden to do so.
As if you needed another reminder of what all out farce the lockout and this whole labor mess really is. Well, except for the fact that it could actually scuttle the NFL season.
Freeman notes, in conversations with players, that head coaches are hewing to the rules, letting the assistants handle the underground work. Naturally, that leads to a little speculation about whether or not the St. Louis Rams are one of those teams skirting the rules. I hope so.
It makes all the sense in the world for head coach Steve "Four Pillars" Spagnuolo to avoid contact. However, his new offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, has a history of feeling out those, um, moral gray areas. If anyone could somehow find a way to reach out to his players right now, surely he could. You know he's gotta be fan of video chats.
McDaniels' playbook, at least some of it, slipped out during the brief window at the end of last month when the lockout was lifted. As noted this weekend, Rams players are getting together again. They'll have the playbook too. We've speculated before about Josh's brother Ben acting as an intermediary, but maybe there's more to it than just a middle man.