Once Washington realized that the services of cornerback Orlando Scandrick weren’t needed, the team could have squatted on his rights until just before the start of the regular season, adding him to the final cuts and forcing him to scramble to find other work. Washington decided instead to let him start the process now of landing elsewhere, carrying a $1 million signing bonus with him.
"[W]hen we initially signed Orlando we had just lost Kendall [Fuller], and it was before the draft,” coach Jay Gruden told reporters on Tuesday. “We drafted [Greg] Stroman and obviously we got Adonis [Alexander], and I think the emergence of Danny Johnson, Fabian Moreau at nickel. We wanted to get these guys reps at nickel and [Quinton] Dunbar at corner and move on. So, give Orlando ample time to get on a team before the season started.”
The approach carries risk. If one or more of the other corners are injured, Washington will wish it still had Scandrick. By not cutting him, however, Washington would have risked owing Scandrick his $1.75 million salary for 2018 if he’d suffered a serious injury before being released.
As a vested veteran, Scandrick becomes a free agent as of 4:00 p.m. ET, free to sign with any other team at any other time.
