Orlando Scandrick goes on ‘Undisputed’ and takes shots at the Eagles, Howie Roseman, Malcolm Jenkins, Lane Johnson

Former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Orlando Scandrick appeared on FS1’s ‘Undisputed’ with Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe, and Jenny Taft and sure did not mince words about the team that cut him just earlier this week. Here’s a transcript of what he had to say, with some of my own thoughts to follow. (UPDATE: Jimmy Kempski and I also reacted to the audio of Scandrick’s comments in an emergency BGN Radio podcast recording.)

SCAPEGOATED BY HOWIE ROSEMAN

Very surprised [that I was cut]. I had a very productive game coming back against the Jets. And then we go up to Minnesota and we get smashed. And then we go to Dallas and we get smashed. And then it felt kind of scapegoatish. […] I didn’t have my best performance [against the Cowboys]. I had some rough moments, but who doesn’t have rough moments in this league? But, uh, it felt really, really scapegoatish. The problem in Philadelphia is much, much deeper than me.

I think they’re having a tough time dealing with success. Whenever you’ve got to say ‘Oh, we’re going to get it together. Oh, no one believes in us. Oh, it’s about us.’ You’re already doomed.

Zach Brown goes out and says ‘You know, we need to put it in the quarterback’s hands,’ and he gets released. The head coach goes out and says ‘Oh, we’re going to go down to Dallas and we’re going to win and be in first place.’ Should he get released?

How it was explained to me from Howie [Roseman], and I don’t believe anything that Howie says. Howie is one of the people that, if he told me it was raining outside, I’d probably get some shorts just in case. He put it to me as he wanted to play some younger players, and they’re a mess on defense and they need to get some more defensive lineman. So we’ll see how that works for them this weekend up in Buffalo.

• Lol at ‘who doesn’t have rough moments in this league?’ That’s a lame excuse and not being accountable at all.
• I think there’s some merit to the Eagles struggling to handle success. Complacency could be an issue.
• That line about Roseman is really something.

LANE JOHNSON’S COMMENTS ABOUT PLAYERS BEING LATE

Let’s just say where there’s smoke, there’s fire. You’ve been in a lot of locker rooms. If you and me are having a conversation in the locker room and it gets leaked to him, so he’s going to get the edited version, what was the version that me and you were actually talking about?

[…]

I was just talking about that to somebody, like, why not just go to that guy on the plane? But for me, that was like a masking thing. I think Lane is a hell of a player and we all can agree with that. He didn’t have hell of a game on Sunday. So, instead of going out and attacking somebody being late, the first thing you could’ve did is just looked in the mirror, and then maybe went to that guy and pulled him to the side and said ‘Hey, we can’t be late. We’ve got to set examples because we’re the vets on this team.’ Because they’re not talking about a rookie being late. They’re not talking about just some guy that’s the 52nd, 53rd, guy on the roster, some guy that doesn’t play, inactive, being late. That comment is about somebody of some significance. So, instead of hiding behind — I don’t know who it is. And I wasn’t there long enough even to dive into that.

[...]

I love Alshon and I’ma take it for what he said: it wasn’t him [who was the anonymous source]. But, it came from somewhere. Once again, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. That locker room is different. I would tell guys when I came there like I still felt like they’re living on that Super Bowl high. Like, it’s over. You’re living in the past. But some of those guys came into the league and the first thing they experienced was 13-3 and the Super Bowl and they think that’s what it’s all about. […] And for me, 12 years, no Super Bowls. No Super Bowl appearances. And some of those guys, they haven’t even faced the harsh reality of a losing season. But at this rate, that what’s going on there, the problem is not just fixable by saying we’re all going to stay together. You say ‘We’re all going to stick together, we’re all in the together.’ But then you get Lane saying ‘People is late to meetings.’ It’s some accountability issues there and it starts from the top.’

• Don’t disagree that Johnson could’ve handled someone being late privately instead of airing that to the public. Malcolm Jenkins and Brandon Graham basically said they wish Johnson handled that differently as well.

SOME EAGLES PLAYERS PROBABLY MISS NICK FOLES

There’s a ton of pressure on him but let’s just start here: Nick Foles is not walking through that door. At all. Not at all. And, I think, are there some people in that locker room that still would probably want Nick? Yeah. But that’s not a knock against Carson. It’s just everything Nick has achieved. But he’s not walking through that locker room. And clearly the organization has shown everybody: the fan base, the players, the coaches … they’re all in on Carson. It’s his team. So, somewhere in the happy medium they’re going to have to figure out how to get over it.

I love Carson. I thought he was a great guy. Thought he was stand up. I’ma compare him to your quarterback [Dak Prescott]. I spent enough time with both of them. Dak, natural-born [leader]. First one in the building. Last one out. Doing extra things. Carson, if you going back to earlier in the season, they dropped a few passes, and now they want to stay after practice and catch some extra passes. That’s adversity, right? How do you handle success? When you rip off a few games, does everybody just get in at 7:15 and leave at 6:14? And I think that they’re dealing with that right now. That success is really, really hurting them right now.

• The PhillyVoice report from earlier this year suggested that some players preferred Foles to Wentz, so not really a new sentiment here. But, like Scandrick said, that ship has sailed at this point.

CALLING OUT MALCOLM JENKINS

I think on defense they have stuck together pretty good. I think there are some selfish people on that defense, though. Absolutely. I think that Rasul Douglas, who’s a good friend of mine, he took some unwanted heat for some blown coverages on some other people’s selfish play. And we don’t even have to say names. We don’t have to say names at all. They know who they are. […] I think that when you wear a ‘C’ on your jersey, I think it’s your job to bring guys along. It’s your job to sometimes to, you need to take the hard down. You need to take the hard job. And you need to bring the thing together. I don’t know if that’s the case. You looking at everything that happened, you hold out for a contract, you come in, you’re not really making any plays like splash plays, then you go down to Minnesota and you somehow supposed to be in the half of the field, and you end up playing a crosser, that’s not a rookie we’re talking about here. That’s a two-time Super Bowl champ.

• Jenkins DID take responsibility for the play that Scandrick is referencing here.

OVERALL

There might be some level of truth to the things he said but Scandrick is clearly bitter and I’d venture that the Eagles won’t be re-signing him at any point this year.