Archer: Orlando Scandrick aiming to be better than before ACL tear

Cotton

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Orlando Scandrick aiming to be better than before ACL tear

Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas – Not long after Orlando Scandrick was carted off the Dallas Cowboys’ practice field in Oxnard, California, with torn anterior and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee last summer, he promised to return in 2016 better than before.

Four months later, how is the Cowboys’ cornerback feeling?

“I’m excited,” Scandrick said. “Everything is working as we thought. The knee responded well. The muscles are responding well. Just working my butt off and now I’m getting into the point where the ligaments are healed and it’s about the commitment and work I put in.”

Scandrick’s goal is to be ready for training camp, but he hopes to be ready sooner. He just wants to be smart when he does get back on the field.

“It’s going into my ninth year,” Scandrick said. “I don’t think getting out there and going full-go in minicamp and rushing is the way to go about things.”

Scandrick has been going through some resistance training and running in recent weeks. He will remain in the Dallas area for the entire offseason. In the past he has shuffled back and forth from Los Angeles. He stayed away from the early part of the offseason program last year while his contract was reworked, and he said before getting hurt in training camp that it put him behind in getting ready for the season.

Coming back from a severe knee injury, he wants to do everything he can.

“It’s a grind,” Scandrick said of the rehab. “It definitely takes a commitment. Just embracing every day and I’m excited about the progress I’ve made and I’m eager to continue to make more.”

The Cowboys missed Scandrick a lot. Despite missing every game, he had the same amount of interceptions as Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne and one behind the only corners who recorded a pick this year, Deji Olatoye and Terrance Mitchell.

Scandrick is one of the better slot corners in the league and the coaches have used him to follow some of the better receivers all over the field, such as DeSean Jackson and Victor Cruz.

“He’s really been committed to getting himself right. He was around our football team a lot in a really positive way, demonstrated some leadership even though he wasn’t really a part of the team on a day-to-day basis this year,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “He’s really matured over the course of his career. He’s a really good football player. He makes a lot of plays, both in the nickel position but also demonstrated to us the last couple of years that he could be an outstanding corner.”

The Cowboys still will need to address the cornerback spot. Carr is set to make $9 million in the final year of his deal in 2016. Claiborne is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March. The future of Byron Jones, the Cowboys’ first-round pick in 2015, appears to be set at free safety.

“It’s just a totally different offseason,” Scandrick said. “I’m coming off an injury and I’ve got so much to prove to myself. I just want to get back out there and do it like I did before and even better.”
 

Cowboysrock55

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He will be a good starter for us next year. I have total faith in the guy. He is a tough solid corner. Maybe not special in any way but I'd love to have 3 of him starting on this defense.
 

VA Cowboy

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Hopefully knowing Scandrick is coming back will keep us away from Ramsey or Hargreaves in the draft. Both of those guys scare me the most in the top 5. Hargreaves got toasted against good competition his last three games. He's listed at 5-11 but more like 5-9/5-10 and has issues with jump balls. Ramsey is consistently said to be a great athlete but doesn't have a true position. He's not a true cover corner and at safety he's good but not top 5 good. And we also have Byron Jones there. We do need to replace Church but not with a top 5 pick who isn't a all world safety.
 

p1_

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Both of those guys scare me the most in the top 5.
There will be no cornerback top 5 talk tolerated. at #4, it's QB time, every time and all the time.
 

p1_

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Doubt he would made much of a difference this past season. Not the way things stacked up. The offense was the missing element.
secondary, ala Carr and to a lesser extent, Claborne, was not a strength. Church, Wilcox (especially) and Heath are pedestrian.
 

GShock

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Doubt he would made much of a difference this past season. Not the way things stacked up. The offense was the missing element.
Absolutely true.

But our historic low in forcing turnovers didn't help.
 

Cowboysrock55

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secondary, ala Carr and to a lesser extent, Claborne, was not a strength. Church, Wilcox (especially) and Heath are pedestrian.
I'm just going to say it, Church is bad. He gets picked in in coverage, misses a lot of tackles and somehow never gets his hands on the ball. He is everything bad at safety.
 

ravidubey

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I'm just going to say it, Church is bad. He gets picked in in coverage, misses a lot of tackles and somehow never gets his hands on the ball. He is everything bad at safety.
We've been waiting for a real safety since 2003.
 
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