To break up another monotonous night of meetings in a monotonous month of training camp, New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo had his players and coaches do something radically different that didn't require that much effort: they switched meeting rooms.
Each position met with their counterparts' position coaches, so offensive linemen went to the defensive line meeting room, defensive backs went to the wide receivers' meeting room, and so on. Then, each position coach broke down film explaining how and why, for example, defensive backs use the techniques and coverages they do.
“It was definitely more interesting than I thought at first,’’ defensive tackle Jay Bromley told the New York Post. “I was like, ‘Man, we’re just wasting time, we don’t need to learn O-line,’ but while we were in the room, coaches did a great job of explaining it and allowing us to understand what they go through.’’
In addition to providing a crash course scouting report on their positional enemies, "cross-coaching" also offered the benefit of allowing players and coaches that don't usually interact to spend some time with one another.
“It also helps players get in a room and hear how the other side of the ball breaks them down fundamentally, the fundamentals that they’re being taught across the ball and then how they’re game-planning to beat the individual on the other side of the ball,’’ McAdoo said. “It helps to hear how opponents are going to try to coach and beat you as a man, it helps you work on your weaknesses.’’
It's also a brilliantly simple idea that literally any program in the country can duplicate.