INDIANAPOLIS- – Coaches are not yet allowed on the field with players in the NFL’s offseason workouts. In the meantime, players like new Colts quarterback Matt Ryan become the coaches.
“I just try to add value where I can,” Ryan explained. “I certainly have experience in this league and have seen it, with a bunch of different coaching staffs, of ways to be successful. I think that accumulation of knowledge through the years is gonna help.”
One thing Ryan has learned, especially this early in the year, is to be patient.
“Younger it was ‘Hey, this is my way. This is how it has to get done,'” he said. “There’s certainly still quite a bit of that, but you have to allow guys to do it, trust their instincts and go play.”
Ryan has thrown to Hall of Fame pass catchers virtually his entire career with Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez. He’ll take the lessons he’s learned over 14 seasons and try to pass them along to a very young group of Colts wideouts.
“You’ve gotta be really good with your communication,” he added. “You see a certain skillset, and you say ‘He can do all those things,’ but he’s not gonna do any of them if you overload him.”
Coming along slowly is a luxury of the early NFL offseason. Things will ramp up heavily in May at Rookie Minicamp and later when OTAs begin.