Damarious Randall | Cornerback | Arizona State | 5'11" - 196 lbs.

OVERVIEW
In 2014, selected first-team All-Pac-12, finishing with 106 tackles. Had an interception return for a touchdown in each of the two seasons he played at Arizona State. In 2013, signed with Arizona State and started nine games. In 2012, while attending Mesa Community College, selected Junior College first-team All-American. Starred in both football and baseball coming out of high school, but decided to play baseball at Butler Community College in order to follow in his brother's foot steps (brother, Patrick Norris, was drafted by Kansas City Royals out of Butler). Played shortstop but suffered shoulder injury and was forced back to football.


STRENGTHS Plus athlete with good speed. Scouts love his toughness and effort. Inspired effort as a tackler, racking up 177 tackles during two-year stint at Arizona State. Looks to punish. Explodes into targets and jolts his victims. Takes very good angles in space in run support. Instinctive blitzer who times snap and has a nose for the quarterback. Senses throws underneath and breaks on them early. Highly competitive on 50/50 throws and won't give an inch to receiver. Took two interceptions for scores. Good hands -- played some wide receiver in junior college and was also an explosive returner while there.

WEAKNESSES Small for safety position. Has box characteristics but lacking box size. Instincts as a free safety are average. Could be forced to play cornerback. Needs technique work in coverage. Must learn line-of-scrimmage skills and work on coordinating feet and hips. Allows wideouts to eat up cushion. Desire to attack leads to false steps against play-action. Fails to play with proper depth at times. Gets a little loose with technique as a tackler at times, causing him to miss.

DRAFT PROJECTION Round 2

SOURCES TELL US "I have him as the top safety in this draft so that should tell you what I think of his ability to play with his size. Just give me a good player." NFC defensive backs coach

NFL COMPARISON Jimmy Ward

BOTTOM LINE 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.

Booooooooooo!

Why in the salted shit did we take this dud?

I didn't like the Nick Perry pick OR the Datone Jones pick, but I'm giving them time.
lol.
I don't hate this pick, it's just nerve wracking, because RANDY GREGORY was there.
But I do trust Ted.

This was CLEARLY the guy they wanted.
They always say that, but in this case, they had their pick of about a dozen guys.

Laser Gunns;310902Booooooooooo!

Why in the salted shit did we take this dud?

BPA?

Some have felt that CB was our major need, after losing Tramon and Davon.

Strange pick to me. There are only a couple of scenarios that make much sense to me.

1 - Ted drafted him to play CB. From the little bit I know about him, he has been criticized due to his size - maybe he would fit better on the outside.

2 - He plays safety and Hyde returns to corner. Hyde seems to do well at either position.

3 - Ted felt he was the BPA and picked him simply because of that.

I'm not overly excited about this pick - I hope he can contribute in some way early on.

I had him rated as a 2, but I guess I was behind the times, as he seems to have been vaulting to the first round.

Damarious Randall’s stock rises into the first round

“It’s become a pass-first league and he’s by far the best cover safety in college football,” Mayock said of Randall. “He’s gone from a third- or fourth-round Senior Bowl oddity to, I think, a first-round draft pick. I had to get over that a little bit because he’s not as good a tackler or as physical as, say, London Collins of Alabama. But I think he fits the NFL more.”

Had a good Senior Bowl.
Ted is huge on the Senior Bowl.

“In today’s pass-first NFL, the kid from Arizona State fits a lot of teams better,” Mayock said. “In today’s game, where’s the value? The value’s more in the cover safety than in the physical safety.”

And what Mayock says there is dead on.
We said the same thing about Dix over Pryor last year.
A big hitting S is cool, but nowaday's that's 15 yards and a first down waiting to happen.
I look at this as depth across from Shields, but honestly I have to wonder if Morgan Burnett's days are numbered.
Every year we expect him to take that step up, but he hasn't.

Not a pick that makes the most sense to me.
We have a few players that match his dimensions already.
I think we needed somebody who can play inside and cover TEs.
This isn't a guy you are going to want up in run support.
Going safety I would have preferred Landon Collins.

Will wait and see what he can do.

Looks like they think he is a corner.

GM Ted Thompson: We think he's a very versatile player, we'll probably line him up as a corner.

nerdmann;310906I had him rated as a 2, but I guess I was behind the times, as he seems to have been vaulting to the first round.

Damarious Randall’s stock rises into the first round

Second comment down on the article I'm quoting:

ariani1985 says: Apr 29, 2015 3:28 PM

Packers will draft him if he can make plays on 2 pt conversions!

61
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LOL, Ted's saying he's gonna be a "hybrid" slot/CB/S.

So we've got all these tweeners up front and now we've got three guys who are tweeners in the back end too.

PackFanWithTwins;310907Not a pick that makes the most sense to me.
We have a few players that match his dimensions already.
I think we needed somebody who can play inside and cover TEs.
This isn't a guy you are going to want up in run support.
Going safety I would have preferred Landon Collins.

Will wait and see what he can do.

They like him better than London Collins, because he's more of a cover guy, less of a hitter.
It's like Dix over Pryor last year.
The aggressive "Chuck Cecil" type of hitter is just gonna get flagged and give up free first downs in today's game.
It's sad but it's true.


Also seems like Ted's less concerned about height than he used to be, ever since he drafted Cobb.