What do the Redskins have in Orlando Scandrick?

July 6, 2018

by Steve Thomas

The cornerback position group has undergone a fairly radical change this offseason.  Kendall Fuller was shipped westward in the Alex Smith trade and fourth year player Bashaud Breeland was allowed to leave via free agency.  Breeland had a contract with the Carolina Panthers voided after he failed his physical, but I don’t expect him to return to Washington, principally due to the arrival of Orlando Scandrick, who is an experienced veteran who the Redskins intend to rely on next season.  With everything that’s gone on this offseason, this signing has gone a little bit under the radar, so I wanted to get to an analysis of Scandrick before training camp.  Let’s begin.

Background

Scandrick, who stands 5’10” and is 196 pounds, is a native of Torrence, California.  He played three years at Boise St University from 2005 -2007, posting 109 solo tackles, 43 assisted tackles, 27 passes defended, 4 interceptions, and 1 touchdown.  His year to year collegiate statistical breakdown is as follows:

2005: 13 gms, 41 solo tackles, 9 assisted tackles, 12 passes defended, 1 int, 1 TD

2006: 13 gms, 32 tackles, 20 assisted tackles, 7 passes defended, 1 int

2007: 13 gms, 36 tackles, 14 assisted tackles, 8 passes defended, 2 int

Scandrick’s 2006 team was the group that went 13 – 0, famously beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on a statue of liberty play on the last play of overtime after being unfairly denied a spot in the championship game by the scourge against humanity that was the BCS.

At the 2008 NFL Combine, Scandrick posted a time of 4.32 seconds in the 40 yard dash and jumped 10’5” in the broad jump.  He was drafted in the 5th round by the Dallas Cowboys and has spent the entirety of his career up until this point in Texas.  From 2008 – 2017, Scandrick played in 125 games, starting 69, with 353 tackles, 46 assisted tackles, 64 passes defended, 8 interceptions, including 1 for a touchdown, and 11.5 sacks.  Statistically, his best year was 2013.  During that campaign, Scandrick played 16 games, starting 15, and made 59 tackles, 5 assisted tackles, 2 interceptions, and 2 sacks.  He missed the entire 2015 season after tearing the ACL and MCL in his right knee during training camp.  Last season, he played and started 11 games, making 32 tackles, 6 assisted tackles, and defended 3 passes, but was released after season’s end.  At one point in his Cowboys career, Scandrick was an important starter, but by the end of his tenure last year, he was primarily the slot corner.

Scandrick was a solid contributor while in Dallas, although he was never elected to a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team.  The only real blight on his record came in 2014 when he was suspended for 4 games (later reduced to 2) after testing positive for MDMA, known as ecstasy.

Scandrick’s contract with the Redskins is a 2 year deal worth a total of $7M, with $1M guaranteed and base salaries of $1.75M in 2018 and $2.75M in 2019, with cap hits of $2,593,750 and $4.25M, respectively.  He deal is structured in such a way that he can be cut at any point over the next two years.

What does the film show?

Yes, Orlando Scandrick had a decent ten year run with Dallas.  He’s a quality pro, but he was also released, with the Cowboys seemingly not upset at all that he ended up with a division rival.  Therefore, the elephant in the room is what, exactly, the Redskins are getting with their $7M.  For these purposes, I’m not so much interested in Scandrick’s performance at the beginning of his career, or even a few years ago, but rather what he can do now.  To be more blunt and honest, what does he have left?  After all, this is a 10 year vet who tore his ACL three years ago.  The Redskins need him to step up into a key role following the departures of Fuller and Breeland.  The question is whether Scandrick still has some semblance of his speed and agility that he had in the early days of his career.

As I always say with these pieces, I’m not an expert or a professional scout.  #notascout.  These are just my semi-educated observations made from watching film, so you can take them or leave them.  For Scandrick, I watched the All-22 film from the Cowboys – Redskins game at Fed Ex Field on October 29, 2017, the Cowboys – Chiefs game in Dallas on November 5, 2017, and his 2017 highlights from YouTube.

As stated, Scandrick’s principal role in 2017 was to be Dallas’ primary slot corner, but there were also times that he lined up on the outside.  He is still capable of fairly tight man coverage on downfield patterns.  No player’s film is perfect, particularly that of a 10 year vet who’s suffered a major knee injury.  Nevertheless, Scandrick showed enough skill and ability to perform well in those situations.  While there’s no doubt he’s lost some top-end speed and burst, he can still out-accelerate players of average and slower speed, and he’s experienced enough to by and large provide quality coverage on routes down the field where he can essentially just run with the receiver.  I did not see an instance in which he was flat-out burnt going downfield.  He is experienced enough to understand his role in zone coverages against advanced offensive concepts such as bunch formations.  Dallas used Scandrick as a blitzer on fairly regular basis (as evidenced by his 11.5 career sacks), so the Redskins should be able to use that skill as well.  In run defense, Scandrick can hit hard and make tackles, and for the most part isn’t going to get run over by opposing running backs.  When compared to the price paid, Washington will be getting an experienced corner with some speed remaining who will be able to come in and help the defensive secondary.

On the negative side, I don’t believe Scandrick still has the same level of lateral agility as he once had (or perhaps he never had it; like I said, I didn’t go back to his early film).  Slot receivers are able to create separation on crossing routes on him because they are able to break and burst faster than Scandrick.  There are also occasional times when Scandrick will misread the field while in zone defense, which is something that at this point isn’t going to change.  He has a tendency to be unable to shed blocks on running plays – lead blockers can easily keep him out of plays even if the play is coming his direction.  Also, while Dallas did let Scandrick blitz multiple times per game, I didn’t observe him ever actually make an impact in that role.

A common narrative is that Scandrick could be the Redskins’ slot corner – and yes, I said it myself two shows ago, but that was before I wrote this piece – but after watching his film, I think he may be better suited at this point as an outside corner. At this point, I don’t believe his skills are adequate for an extensive amount of underneath zone coverage.   The Redskins play cover three as standard base coverage, which requires outside corners to go downfield with receivers at times, as compared to a cover two situation where outside corners are manning the flats.  In either case, the slot corner is going to have his share of shallow crossers to defend, whereas I think Scandrick is best using his remaining straight-line speed and smarts on the edge.

Where does he fit with the Redskins?

The Redskins will probably keep 5 or 6 corners, most likely 6.  Josh Norman, Fabian Moreau, and Quinton Dunbar are locks for the roster, with Norman as the big money #1 corner, and Moreau and Dunbar fighting for the opposite side starting role.  That leaves Scandrick to compete with 2017 7th round pick Josh Holsey, this year’s 7th round pick Greg Stroman, and 2018 undrafted free agents Danny Johnson and Ranthony Texada for either two or three remaining roster spots.  It seems likely that Scandrick will enter training camp ranked ahead of all of these remaining players, so he has a good chance of making the roster unless one of Johnson or Texada dramatically outplay expectations; or if Washington just keeps five, Stroman would have to beat him out as well.

As I mentioned below, I’m not as convinced as I previously was that Scandrick’s destiny is or should be as the slot corner.  Moreau wasn’t a slot corner at UCLA, but I don’t think Dunbar’s strength lies with that position either.  Therefore, to project a bit, if Norman and Dunbar are the starters, leaving Moreau and Scandrick as next on the depth chart, it seems more productive to give the slot corner job to Moreau, who has youth and agility on his side, leaving Scandrick as the principal backup on the outside, with Holsey being the next man up.

Head coach Jay Gruden said some positive things about Scandrick during his OTA press conferences, so (if Gruden is to be believed, at least), Scandrick may have already earned the confidence of the coaching staff.

Scandrick is not a kick and/or punt returner, but he could theoretically be effective on coverage units on special teams.

What’s your opinion on Orlando Scandrick?  Let me know in the comment section below.