DCFanatic.com has the news from CBS 11 Sports:
CBS 11 Sports has learned that Cowboys coaches have sat down with cornerbacks Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick Thursday, telling the two players what the plan will be at right corner to start this season.
Jenkins and Scandrick have been battling since May for the starting position.
The plan, as the coaches told the men, is that they will alternate the two each week as the starter. The players will be platooned through the season.
During the 16-game season Jenkins will start for the team in week 1 at Tampa Bay. Scandrick will start against the Giants in the Cowboys home opener week 2.
CBS 11 Sports talked to both after the coaches decision Thursday. Scandrick called it a good solution, Jenkins said "they want to keep the battle going apparently."
Both were told that if one of them gets hot and does particularly well the team will use that player more.
Assistant Secondary coach Brett Maxis says they didn't feel it was fair to name a clear-cut starter.
Somehow I had a feeling this might happen. There are pros and cons, but having two young players who are both good enough to start and not being able to figure out which one is ahead of the other is not the worst problem to have! Neither one has separated himself from the other to make himself the clear starter, so the competition will continue into the season and each will get opportunities to win more playing time through their production. I think one drawback is that it doesn't give one guy a chance to just get into the rhythm of the position, but rotating them from game to game is better in this regard than rotating them from series to series within a game, so at least for each game one guy will assume the role. And though both of them will still be on the field plenty each game in certain packages, having them alternate carrying the load could actually help them both stay fresh for the the long haul. And not like they necessarily need extra motivation to play hard and give everything they've got, but knowing that they are still really competing for the long-term starting job should make each one push as hard as they can to excel. Hard to tell how much their draft positions and the emotional/motivational factor comes into play: judging them purely based on their performance, or hedging based on not wanting Jenkins to go "in the tank" as they say by losing the starting job.
So what do you think? Wade being wishy-washy and should just pick a starter? Or a good solution for now to get the most out of both and give them both a fair opportunity going forward?
