The Dallas Cowboys were really hoping to make it through the entire 2015 NFL season without suffering an injury that would affect their team. Unfortunately, they couldn’t even make it out of training camp. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick tore his ACL in practice on Tuesday evening, and it will put a huge hole in their defensive secondary, but who will they get to take his place?
Just to put into perspective how good Scandrick is, he did not allow a single touchdown to receivers he was covering last season.
Blogging the Boys reported that Scandrick was involved in a collision on the field with Lucky Whitehead during practice on Tuesday. The collision caused him to injure his knee and have to be carted off of the field, and it was later reported that the injury is a torn ACL and MCL that will have him gone for the year.
Orlando Scandrick collided with Lucky Whitehead. It’s 32s knee. Not good. pic.twitter.com/MSwpb90OjB
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 26, 2015
Brandon Carr is already out with a broken hand, and the injury to Orlando Scandrick hurts the secondary even more. With his injury, Sports World Report believes that the Cowboys will turn to Morris Claiborne , a player who almost wasn’t even with the team earlier this summer.
Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson has confidence in Claiborne to step up his game and get into a much larger role with the team.
“It we do lose a player like that for the season, we hate to do that, but we won’t miss a beat. We’ll keep plugging the next guy in. Again, we like our depth at that position. Again, our depth is going to be tested…so we’ll see.”
Then again, the Cowboys could look at others beside Claiborne since they have so much depth in the secondary. The team is said to be rather high on former undrafted free agent cornerback Tyler Patmon.
It appears as if a number of teams had reached out to the Cowboys in hopes of trading for Patmon, but the Cowboys turned down their offers. That may have been the best decision they’ve made in a long time with the injury to Scandrick now happening.
Orlando Scandrick’s injury is really going to hurt the Dallas Cowboys this season, no matter how much depth they have in the secondary. Morris Claiborne appears the most likely candidate to step in and replace him, but the rest of the preseason will say a lot about that final decision.
[Image via Getty Images – Ronald Martinez]