Scandrick at Safety? He says “No”….

Dallas Cowboy corner Orlando Scandrick would not be playing if I were GM of a team after reading the latest from bleacherrepport.com.  Scandrick has no intention of helping the team by playing safety, as reported.  He is currently playing cornerback and the stable of cornerbacks is getting quite full.  With the addition of Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne plus having the disgruntled Mike Jenkins and six other cornerbacks on the roster in a mix of rookies and younger experienced players; there are simply too many out there.  The safety position isn’t much better at eight, but there are only two true veterans in Gerald Sensabaugh and Brodney Poole, as seen on the dallascowboys.com roster.  Scandrick’s experience would be beneficial at safety plus it would possibly get him more playing time, which is the number one complaint from a football player when they are on the sidelines.

The biggest problem I see is the lack of commitment and determination from Scandrick to be a team player, from what I remember from a couple of years ago he stated he would play anywhere and was grateful to be apart of the Cowboys organization.  I guess that has changed now that the Cowboy coaches started toying with the idea of putting him at safety.  Putting in the time to learn a new position for the team is a commitment from the team, which he needs to show.  The determination factor should be that he is determined to stay on this team and be able to play a game every Sunday.

Unfortunately, this is not a common problem though.  This younger generation of players seems to think they can tell the coaches what they want and the coaches have to adapt.  I’m sorry but the way it is supposed to work, the coaches tell the players and the players adapt.

In my semiprofessional experience, we have had the same problems.  The difference between the professional and semiprofessionals, is that the sometimes you have to give in at the semi pro level to keep bodies on the roster and sometimes on the field.  We have had instances where we did release a player who flat out refused to play where we wanted them.  Other instances, we allowed them to try out to see how far on the depth chart they would be if they played their desired position.  Most cases, we saw that player back at their old place on the field.  This past season, we had a young man who desperately wanted to play fullback and he actually did for a while.  Our offensive line became decimated with injuries and he finished the season on the line, where we really needed him.  In that case, I saw the dedication that Scandrick could learn from.  Not only did the player play well on the line, but he is now being looked at by a few Canadian Football League teams.  I would say that because the coaching staff made the right decision by telling that player, “hey, we need you on the o-line.” And the fact that my player made the right choice by following the instructions, it could work out in leaps and bounds for this young man.

Scandrick should realize a few things such as the fact: 1) he is the player 2) his coaches feel like playing safety may benefit the team because they feel he would be the best candidate out of the group of cornerbacks to fill a needed void 3) the move could possibly pay off in the sense that he could be a Pro Bowler 4) if he fails at the position, at least he has the ability to fall back into the cornerback position.  I don’t think he is thinking about those things at all.

The possibilities are there for him, but it is up to him to grow up and realize that he gets to play a game for a living, while some of us are out there in the real world.  I would hope he would maybe read this article and realize that his fans would appreciate him more for being a team player.