By rule, NFL players haven’t been permitted to meet with coaches or get their playbooks except on the one day that the lockout was briefly lifted. But Browns quarterback Colt McCoy sounds like he has a suspiciously good feel for the system run by the team’s new head coach, Pat Shurmur.
McCoy told Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he’s the man running the show at the players’ offseason workouts because he’s the one who knows the offense.
“We have a new coach and a new system and I’m really the only one that has that much clue about what’s going on,” said McCoy. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the playbook, so it was important for us to get together and study. It was a lot mental. We spent a lot of time understanding the basic foundation of what goes on in the West Coast. It’s a lot different from what we ran last year.”
The Browns were reportedly fined $50,000 for improper contact with players, but if that contact has them ahead of other teams when the lockout finally ends, then $50,000 is a bargain.
McCoy also said that his throwing shoulder, which hadn’t been 100 percent since then-Alabama, now-Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus hit him in the national championship game 16 months ago, is finally as good as new.
“It feels as good as it’s ever felt,” McCoy said. “Throwing-wise, I definitely feel back up to speed. I’m not getting fatigued as much as what I was. I really feel good and confident, so that’s always a plus.”
And it’s a plus that he can make his teammates feel good and confident in the new offense.