By Tim Graham
INDIANAPOLIS -- Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone has spent the past seven weeks evaluating his players, but he's still not ready to share much information about what his team will look like in 2013.
Marrone, meeting with reporters today at the NFL scouting combine in Lucas Oil Stadium, still is reluctant to divulge any details of significance because he said, "I really believe in face-to-face and being able to reach out or smell the breath or touch somebody" before he reaches any conclusions.
"It's not that I'm trying to put anyone off," Marrone said. "Watching the tape's just a part of the process. If I was going to talk about evaluation of a player, I would do it right in front of him first, face-to-face.
"I'm not going to be able to do that when the players report. What I'm going to have to do is be able to build a foundation of our three systems of offense, defense and special teams and start working with those players on the field. And then, even when they're on the field, you're in shorts and T-shirts and football's a contact game.
"It's not as easy as watching the tape and saying, 'Let's go.' You want to watch them play football in the [systems] you do."
Marrone has drawn up the team's offseason workout schedule and personally released it to reporters.
- • Voluntary offseason conditioning: April 2-5; April 8-11; April 22-25; April 29-May 2; May 6-9.
- • Voluntary veteran minicamp: April 16-18
- • Voluntary workouts (organized team activities): May 13-15; May 20-21; May 23; May 28-31.
- • Mandatory minicamp: June 11-13.
The collective-bargaining agreement allows the Bills to hold extra voluntary workouts for veteran players because they have a new head coach.
"You get a couple of extra days to go out there and run around a little bit," Marrone said. "I think it helps. We're about 80 percent done offensively and defensively on our cut-ups, on our playbooks and all the things that we need to make sure that we're prepared for when our players come in.
"Yes, it's a little bit better that we're able to be on the field a little bit, but also we have a foundation to teach schematically in all three phases."