Former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White doesn’t seem too happy with the team’s decision to release him this past week.
White, who had complained about a lack of playing time during the 2015 season, went off on Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan during an appearance at the University of Alabama-Birmingham alumni game Saturday:
“What (Shanahan) expected from me and what I expected from him was totally different,” White said, via ESPN. “I expected to play a bigger role in the offense, and that’s what I wanted to do. But he didn’t have that in his desires.”
This opinion fits tightly into what was a lack of playing time for White down the stretch last season. The 34-year-old four-time Pro Bowler put up just 43 receptions for 506 yards and a touchdown.
He also saw significantly less playing time than previous seasons with the likes of Leonard Hankerson and Justin Hardy taking on more prominent roles.
White continued:
“He (Shanahan) had other people that he wanted to play my role, so he wanted me to be out of the (offense). That was the whole thing. And it is what it is. I can’t do nothing about it. I can’t change his way of thinking or anything like that. I can just do what I did, which was just handle my business and get myself prepared for this moment.”
If the Falcons didn’t view White as having a future with the team, it stands to reason he wouldn’t see as much playing time. That’s only magnified by the fact that Atlanta wanted to see what high-upside 2015 draft pick Justin Hardy was capable of.
When asked if he sought out conversations with Shanahan regarding his lack of playing time, White responded:
“Man, I talked to him just about every day about everything. But it’s like, ‘If I’m talking to you and it’s not getting no better, what do you expect from me?’ He kept trying to tell you all what he’s trying to do with the offense, but for the last 11 weeks of the season, we didn’t do anything. We didn’t turn no curves.”
White has a point here. Atlanta’s offense did seem more vanilla after the team averaged 34.3 points in its first four games. The evidence is in the regression of Atlanta’s scoring offense in its final four games, a span that saw it average just 16.8 points per outing.
If White sounds a tad bitter, that’s because he is. Falcons head coach Dan Quinn apparently attempted to call the receiver after news of his release came trickling in. White didn’t answer the call, instead deciding to respond to a text that was sent from Quinn shortly thereafter.
In terms of his relationship with Quinn, Shanahan and the Falcons. Well, that seems to be as good as done:
“I’m literally done with that situation. I understand that Coach wants to sit down and talk but for me, we’re past that situation now. We really have nothing to talk about. You just move forward. They’re going in a different direction, and I’m going in a different direction, so no need to cross that bridge again and talk about, what, the good times we had?”
We have absolutely no idea how much interest White is going to draw in free agency. What we do know from these comments is that he will likely consider joining a rival NFC South team to stick it to Atlanta. In this, the wide receiver-needy Carolina Panthers could make sense.
White ends his Falcons career as the franchise’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.