For the most part the NFL lockout has been a vacuum into which all football news has been unceremoniously and permanently sucked. But we do have one new genre of offseason news item to thank it for—the lockout rule-breaking conspiracy theory piece. Of late we've been hearing about Sam Bradford, who is rumored to be learning Josh McDaniels's complex new offense with the help of non-Rams-employee Ben McDaniels. Turf Show Times summarizes it neatly.
↵Whether it's true or not—and it just might be—it illustrates just how absurd the NFL lockout has made the relationship between players and coaches, let alone players and owners. The secret, evil brother as a trope fits Agatha Christie novels a little better than it does offseason football news, so far as I can tell, and the fact that it's cropped up when it comes time for Bradford to learn the playbook is evidence of the lengths to which the actual field personnel will go to flout any supposed legal battle.
↵New rumor: I hear the guy learning the playbook is actually Sam Bradford's brother.
↵