Much has been made of Green Bay Packers cornerback Damarious Randall this offseason. Much has been made of his move from the outside to the slot as well.
The Packers have actually made the comparison between Randall and his role and Charles Woodson.
We haven’t really heard much from Randall about the move, but he addressed it on NFL Network today. He likened it to his college days playing safety and sounds pretty excited about the opportunity.
Have a look.
"It's almost not real practicing against him."
More from @RandallTime on @AaronRodgers12 and the @packers defense. (📺 via @NFLTotalAccess) https://t.co/EO3R9TQMvV
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 30, 2017
“It’s almost like not real practicing against him and I mean, I think it kinda hurts us practicing against him to be honest.” Like, literally hurt? Since you didn’t look like you practiced much against Aaron Rodgers, or even high school receivers for most of last season. Which was then followed up by this quote.
“If I can’t practice, I can’t practice. If I’m hurt, I’m hurt. I mean, it’s as simple as that. It ain’t about that. It isn’t. It’s not about that at all. You know what I’m saying. I mean … But it’s easy to talk about. It’s easy to sum it up when we just talk about practice.
We’re sitting here … I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about practice. I mean, listen, we’re talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We’re talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last. Not the game. We’re talking about practice, man.”
Never has another person’s quote (Allen Iverson for those too young) fit so nicely into a conversation once McCarthy anointed Randall the star of the defense during mini camp. I hope that he turns the proverbial corner this year and really amounts to something other than being Datone Jones 2.0 with wanting to prove himself. Otherwise he will find himself joining a distinguished list of first round Packer busts over the past 30 years or so.
I would like to hear Randall clarify what he means by ” I think it kinda hurts us practicing against him to be honest”. I would think you would want to practice against the best to be the best.
Not having Jordy or Cook in most if not all of camp last year had to hurt the ILBs and DBs. Who would you rather cover in practice A. Rodgers or Hundley? R. Rodgers or Bennett? Janis/Allison or Jordy? Cobb or Davis? Answer those questions and that will be a window into what type of competitor you are.