With the Bengals hiring a new offensive coordinator that would implement a new offensive system, we wondered how they would help their players learn the system. We had just figured that Jay Gruden would put together a playbook and ship them to the players so they can study on their own.
And according to Geoff Hobson, that's exactly what they want to do.
Gruden and the staff have produced two different playbooks. A small one in case of an extended lockout beginning March 4 and a regular size in case things go close to normal. But he's not sure if the coaches can send them to the players because of the current collective bargaining agreement negotiations. A Thursday meeting of coaches and general managers was supposed to yield a decision.
Unfortunately, according to PFT, the meeting was "much ado about nothing."
Earlier in the day, ESPN Insider Chris Mortensen reported "that coaches and executives will be reminded at today’s meeting that they’re not allowed to have any contact with players once the lockout starts."
We assume based on what Mortensen reported, combined with the lack of updated news from the coaches meeting that nothing would prevent coaches from mailing out playbooks to their players. And if that's the case, then Jay Gruden will give the players a simplified version of the playbook to start learning the plays.
That being said, one can only hope that a player calls up his offensive brothers to get together and, you know, get a head start on adapting to the new offense.