INDIANAPOLIS -- The Browns were one of several teams reminded this week by the NFL that players are not supposed to "meet" with coaches or be given playbooks during this period of the off-season.
The issue came up, according to sources, after a story in The Plain Dealer reporting that quarterback Colt McCoy had been meeting with new coach Pat Shurmur since the Super Bowl. It was also reported that the Browns intended to give McCoy a portion of Shurmur's offensive playbook before the possible owners lockout on March 4 so that McCoy would have something to study during the work stoppage.
In comments not used in the original story, Browns President Mike Holmgren said on Wednesday, "It's an interesting time. Organizations have to be very careful on how you do things. You can't do anything you haven't done in the past. The fact Pat Shurmur is new ... Colt and some players have come in. We can give him a playbook, have him study it, but you can't have meetings. You have all this stuff going on, so at the very least you've got to be able to give him [a playbook]."
Apparently, not so.
At a meeting with coaches and GMs at the NFL Scouting Combine, the league pointed out that existing rules forbid meetings with coaches and the dispensing of playbooks until the official start of off-season conditioning programs on March 15. The league is saying the off-season rules were a concession to the wishes of the players union, which did not want coaches pressuring players to meet with coaches until the off-season programs kicked off.
Shurmur and Browns GM Tom Heckert declined to expound on the meeting with league officials.
Heckert said, "I'm not going to get into what we can and can't do. There are rules on everything. We're just going about it as whatever they say, we are going to obey them."
Shurmur denied that he and McCoy have held "meetings" to discuss the team's new offense. He said some of the Browns players working out in the team's headquarters have simply stopped in to meet their new head coach.
"There's a new head coach in the building and they're just curious about coming in and meeting him," Shurmur said. "I haven't told any of them to come in. I think it's just normal protocol. We're just getting to know one another."
It is ridiculous, of course, for the league not to allow players to get a jumpstart on their new offense or defense voluntarily. But these are not ordinary times and the league apparently is going to play hardball with the players union every chance it gets.
It figures: The Browns are one of a handful of teams that have changed coaches and are implementing completely new systems on both offense and defense. Therefore, they would appear to suffer more hardships in an owners lockout and complete league shutdown.
Shurmur, however, will have none of that.
"Whatever happens, 32 teams will be in the same situation. I'm not worried about it," he said. "I feel as though we've hired some great teachers and the systems we're going to teach and employ are proven. I trust and am confident that we'll get it done."
More hardball: NFL coaches will feel the effects of a lockout in their paychecks. According to Larry Kennan, executive director of the NFL Coaches Association, as many as 20 percent of coaches in the NFL will see paycuts approximating 30 percent if there is a lockout beyond 30 days.
Kennan said any new coach hired in the past three years -- head coaches and assistants -- have had to agree to lockout language in their contracts. Two teams have indicated immediate paycuts and possible termination if there is a lockout, Kennan said.
"The 'good' teams have said they will conduct business as usual as long as they can," Kennan said. "They also say paycuts would be recouped when the lockout ends."
Kennan said the lockout language has fueled talk of the coaches forming a union to recoup perks they lost when the economy soured in 2009. Since then, 12 teams have removed coaches from team pension plans and reduced or eliminated other benefits.
The teams that ceased pension benefits, Kennan said, are San Diego, Arizona, Atlanta, San Francisco, New Orleans, Buffalo, Jacksonville, New England, Dallas, Houston, Washington and Tampa Bay.
More reax on Shurmur: St. Louis Rams General Manager Billy Devaney believes Shurmur, the club's offensive coordinator the past two years, will be a successful head coach.
"You know, you hear the stuff about players and coaches 'getting it.' More than anything, Pat gets it," Devaney said. "He's got a great way with players, relating to them, understanding them. Knowing when to push, when to back off. He's got a really good offensive mind. But besides that, just the way he relates with players I think is fantastic."
Asked for specifics, Devaney cited Shurmur's role in developing quarterback Sam Bradford in his rookie year.
"The way he interacted with same. [Former QB coach] Dick Curl and Pat were the two guys that were around Sam all last year," Devaney said. "The way those guys just hit it off and the way they worked well together the whole season I think was really impressive."
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