Green Bay Packers: Damarious Randall at CB a smart move

By Ryan Ratty | May 15, 2015

The Green Bay Packers added another foundational player in Damarious Randall. He’ll be great fit at the cornerback position.

Just minutes away from the Super Bowl in the playoffs this past season, the Green Bay Packers went into the 2015 NFL Draft with the mindset that they needed to improve their secondary. With a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, as long as he stays healthy, the offense will always flourish. However, the old mantra is “defense wins championships.”

More from Green Bay Packers

Knowing that, the Packers, given their need to add quality talent in the secondary, used their first-round selection in the back-end of the round on Damarious Randall. In his two-year playing career at Arizona State as the free safety and center fielder of the defense, Randall had a knack for making plays on the football.

In his junior and senior seasons, Randall had 177 tackles, 15 tackles for losses, six interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, and 12 pass deflections. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr ranked Randall as his top safety prospect and the reasoning why was clear.

"“He’s by far the best cover safety in this draft,” Mayock said. “And two months ago he was considered a third- or fourth-round pick. Now he’s a first-round pick.”"

CBSSports’ Dane Brugler also spoke extremely highly of Randall. He reported that one NFL team had Randall ranked higher than Jimmie Ward, who went 30th overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2014 NFL Draft.

There's at least one NFL team that rates Damarious Randall as a better prospect than Jimmie Ward a year ago, who was a 1st rounder (#49ers)
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) April 23, 2015

Despite not playing the cornerback position in college, with his ball skills and his elite coverage capabilities, moving Randall to the cornerback position is a great idea. For starters, Randall lacks elite size and build and at 6-foot, 200 pounds.

In terms of his skillset, Randall glides around the field extremely well. He takes good angles to the football, he’s terrific at breaking on routes, and he has excellent hands, as he was a receiver at JUCO. Weight will be needed for Randall compete more and excel at the line of scrimmage, but he has the speed and tracking ability to stick with receivers on their routes.

The main problems with putting Randall at the cornerback position are actually quite simple. Like any player moving to a new position, Randall will need to learn the technique and he will need to have some game experience. That said, there could very well be a learning curve, but he has the athletic tools to transition into a productive cornerback at the next level.

Dom Capers loves versatility and that truthfully is exactly what Randall is. Sam Shields is one of the better cornerbacks in the league so he’ll man the No. 1 cornerback position, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise to me at all if Randall starts across from him in Week 1.

Casey Heyward was prone to getting beat in 2014. That being said, the Packers spent their first two picks in the draft on defensive backs in Randall and Quinten Rollins.

Using a first-round pick on a guy changing positions is obviously always risky, but given the Packers’ coaching staff and his tools, Randall has the ability to become a fluid cornerback one day in the NFL. It’s now up to the Packers to get the most out of him and mold him into that player that they need to get back to the Super Bowl.

Next: Green Bay Packers 2015 NFL Draft Grades

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Green Bay Packers