That wily devil Ted Thompson has gone and outsmarted everyone again! Despite the top inside linebacker and a top-15 rated defensive tackle being on the board, the Green Bay Packers decided they’d use their first-round pick on Arizona State safety Damarious Randall.
This is no knock on Randall because he has plenty of talent, but the Packers are set at safety for quite a while with Morgan Burnett and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. So, if you’re asking yourself, “What in the flying fuck, Ted?”, you’re not alone.
Randall played two seasons at ASU after transferring from Mesa Community College. He was first-team All-Pac 12 as a senior, when he posted 106 tackles and three interceptions. Randall had 71 tackles and three picks as a junior. He returned one of those picks for a touchdown in each season.
That’s because he’s fast.
Randall (5-11, 196) ran a 4.46 40.
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock called Randall the best cover safety in the draft.
Where are we going with this?
It certainly seems the Packers are planning on letting Randall play cornerback.
First of all, he’s not starting ahead of Clinton-Dix or Burnett at safety.
Second of all, he can obviously cover and is plenty fast enough. The knock on him as a safety is that he’s too small. Well, Randall isn’t too small to play cornerback. Plus, he’s a good tackler — something Casey Hayward is not.
This guy could very well come in, take Tramon Williams’ old spot and IMPROVE the Packers defense.
In terms of physical tools, Randall is built like Tramon, can tackle like Tramon, mix it up like Tramon and hopefully, cover like Tramon. However, he’s a faster version of Tramon.
All of that being said, Randall is still a project. He’ll need to refine his cover skills if he’s going to be successful as a cornerback.
Here’s the NFL.com scouting report.
Randall is considered undersized for the safety position and some teams have him projected as a cornerback. While he has the speed and athletic traits to transition to cornerback, his cover skills and technique need quite a bit of work to be ready for the NFL level. Randall has a nose for the ball and a strong desire to make an aggressive tackle in space, so there could still be teams that give him a legitimate shot at safety, where he carries a higher draft grade.
As much as we didn’t like this pick when it was made, it now seems quite agreeable.
Want some highlights to get you fired up? Here you go!