Since returning to work in the NFL, Raiders coach Jon Gruden has complained several times about the rules barring coaches from doing football work with players until the start of offseason programs in April.
Gruden issued his latest round of complaints during a visit to PFT Live on Wednesday and called it “really disappointing” to have to make decisions about roster spots without meeting some of the players in question. Another one of the league’s incoming head coaches expressed a different view on Thursday.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has been around the league in recent years and perhaps that’s why he doesn’t find anything to complain about when it comes to abiding by a schedule agreed to by both the league and players in their last round of collective bargaining. Vrabel also pointed out that it’s possible to speak to players about other things going on in their lives until it’s time to get to work on football.
“One thing that we’re not going to do is we’re not going to complain about the rules,” Vrabel said on PFT Live Thursday. “We’re just going to try to develop our players within those rules. If our players are in the building and I sit there and talk to them about their family, what their kids are doing or maybe what charities they’re involved with, those are things that are important to me right now.”
Vrabel is adjusting to life as a head coach and said he’s learning that the responsibilities of the job leave him less time to watch tape with his assistants than he might like. He’ll have to adapt to that just like every other coach in the league, but the realities of his new job don’t seem to be causing him too much trouble overall.