We’re not going to call rookie cornerback Damarious Randall a stud yet because that would be overstating the matter. He had a very good season for the Green Bay Packers and that isn’t really debatable. However, the real star rookie cornerback is Quinten Rollins.
You just don’t know it.
You don’t know it because Randall got all the snaps. The only time Rollins got extensive playing time was when Sam Shields was injured.
Randall finished the season with 889 snaps, while Rollins got just 368.
You can see who the real badass is when you look at what these guys did with those snaps.
Randall finished the season with 58 tackles, 14 PD and 3 INTs.
Rollins finished the season with 31 tackles, 6 PD and 2 INTs. He also added a sack.
It isn’t hard to see that if you project Rollins’ statistics over Randall’s snap count, that Rollins comes out on top.
Although most people will remember Randall for things like the pass breakup at the end of the San Diego game and the interception return at the beginning of the Oakland game, he was actually fairly uneven all year. In other words, he played like a rookie. A pretty damn good rookie, but a rookie nonetheless.
A great example is that Oakland game. After that interception return, Randall went out and sucked it up for the rest of the game. He was primarily responsible for allowing Amari Cooper to put up six catches, 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Rollins wasn’t nearly as uneven.
Best passer rating allowed by any rookie CB to play 200+ snaps: Quentin Rollins: 58.4
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) January 21, 2016
PFF graded Rollins out at 82.1. Randall got a 68.9.
These are certainly not end-all, be-all grades, but even if you give Randall five points and take five away from Rollins, they still come out in Rollins’ favor.
This is in no way meant to disparage Damarious Randall. He’s a good cornerback and it looks like he’s going to be helping the Packers win ballgames for a long time.
It just appears that the Packers have a potential top-tier guy sitting around, waiting for playing time in Quinten Rollins.
And remember, Rollins played only one season of college football. He realistically still has substantial room to grow.
Is your mind blown yet?
Wait till they put Jeff Janis in the slot to cover Casey Hayward old position. He will be the next Dion Sanders. Fuck you English teachers.
Hopefully neither of these guys takes the Casey Hayward route after there rookie year.
This is the most important off-season of this regime. They absolutely cannot afford to shit down their leg in this draft. No khyri thorntons, Carl bradfords, jerron mcmillains, jewel worthys, ect. No project players. They need players that can contribute right away. A lot of key free agents, they need to resign either raji or guion. Crosby is a must. They need to bring in another punting option, masthays punting was unacceptable.
Rollins and Randall need to build off of last year and improve. Lacy needs to arrive at camp in tip top shape. ILB and RB need to be addressed in the draft, and OLB and offensive line depth needs to be addressed, particularly on the edge. Who knows how much longer sittons back holds up. Tough decisions are going to be made (peppers) but the packers are sitting pretty in the cash dept. There are a lot of solid FAs available and I really do believe TT will be a bit more aggressive than normal.
I heard Lacy was in talks with the P90X folks. Apparently if that doesn’t work out, he’s going to be talking to Tae Bo and maybe even Jane Fonda.
TT needs to wake up out of his lithium daze . . . The guy acts like a spooked Koala bear. The guy needs to stop importing and eating those fucking eucalyptus leaves and get with the program . . . just staring off into space is not working . . .
Goodbye casey hayward.
Story on Eddie Lacy and P90X please…holy shit
We have them but we don’t play them.
FYI. Davon House played pretty well with the Jaguars. He ended up 4th in the league in passes defensed and had 4 INTs.
“Played pretty well with the Jaguars” is the same thing as saying “was a glaring liability with the Packers.”
Except the Jaguars aren’t the doormat they used be. In fact their defense as been pretty decent for a good few years now.
Rollins can lay a good hit too. Hopefully Gunter will get some playing time next season. I want to see what he can do.
So can Randall: Philly preseason special teams, KC game, vs. Dallas special teams.
The only issue with Gunter is speed. But great football players always figure out a way to play around certain physical limitations
Casey Hayward or Micah Hyde? Who do the Pack pick keep for the slot…. I pick Hyde because of his special teams skills
Hopefully Randall, Rollins, and Gunter make that second year jump because if they do good things will happen. Don’t forget agout the Daniels kid that for some unknown reason was signed off the PS. My guess is the Packers wanted to protect him from another team. He is same height as Gunter, runs a 4.4 something 40, and is good in man coverage. If the Pack has all those guys with Shields, and Capers goes zone for entire halves then I will join the fire him crowd.
If I could pick one of the corners to blitz it would be Rollins. For his limited playing time he sure has the instincts to be around the ball. Can’t wait to see him coming off the edge and drilling QBs from Haywards spot.
Stats don’t tell the story in this case. Both of Rollins’ INTs came when he was playing zone and the ball was thrown right to him. Randall jumped in front of his WR for a huge pick against Carolina that gave the Packers a chance to tie that game late. He also picked the Cardinals in the endzone to stop one scoring drive and then deflected a pass to Fitz that could have been another pick if it wasn’t for an unfortunate bounce.
Randall was out there on an island all season, sometimes against the other team’s best WR. Of course, in those conditions, his per play stats are not going to look as good as Rollins.’
Randall turns his hips and runs with receivers more naturally. He was very impressive for a rookie taken late in the 1st round where very few predicted he would be taken. Most were pretty stunned by this pick at the time. Well, TT was right about this one.
Of course, you can’t coronate CBs too soon. Kyle Fuller had an awesome rookie year for the Bears and has only been mediocre since.
Fuck draft and develop! Fire Thompson!!
Tight End, ILB or Pass Rusher…biggest draft need upcoming?
Early Mock Draft names to consider:
Rd1: Hunter Henry TE Arkansas; Jarran Reed DT Alabama
Rd2: Scooby Wright ILB AZ; Kentrell Brothers, ILB Missou
Rd3: Jake McGee TE Florida; Tyler Higbee TE Western Kentucky; Jordan Jenkins 3-4 OLB Georgia
Rd3:
What about a nose tackle? I’m not so sure Pennel is the long-term answer.
Scooby is a beast, watched the kid play, has a motor like Clay’s. The only downside, coming off an injury. He would have been a first rounder no doubt otherwise. Probably will be gone by the Packers pick anyhow.
Excellent comment and spot on. Disappointing the article doesn’t take any of that content into consideration. Lazy journalism.
There’s a reason Randall got more snaps and covered the better receivers.