ROUND 1 PICK 30 - DB DAMARIOUS RANDALL (ARIZONA STATE)

Remember that guy Charles Woodson? Here's his replacement. I'm anticipating this guy will play that Rover/NB/OLB role that we kind of hoped Micah Hyde would fill. This guy will be all over the place attacking the ball.

does he convert to corner/nickel?  or do we have some master capers 3 safety scheme?

And my stream decided to crap out on every commercial, so naturally I missed this pick.

hope you're right.  nfp has him ranked 85.

 

honestly, i hate the pick.  but at the time the picks happened i also hated the rodgers and mathews picks.  if i hate them at the time they turn out ok.  papa teddie knows better than me.

 

Ted at the podium:

 

*"Fortunate" to draft Randall this late

*"Very versatile player" probably line him up as a corner? (Unintelligible Texas athlete

*good athlete, former baseball player

 

I just lost a page full of notes because I hit the stupid back button: Basically a former center fielder at JUCO, one quite frankly, and he described this pick as "the way the cookies fell"

Really? Let's see him in training camp before we call him the replacement of a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

I'm guessing that Ted feels he can get an ILB in the 2nd round. Count me as one who doesn't get this pick.

Honestly I think a lot of sites didn't bother to do their homework which is why they downgraded him. They picked Landon Collins as the top S and then said there weren't any other Safetys and focusing on pass rushers, WRs and OL. I never really thought of him as a CB, more of pure cover Safety in the mold of Nick Collins so I never paid much attention because why would GB take another S? Because he's a hybrid CB/S who is more CB.

Talant, undoubtedly.  Football player with heart.

 

We'll see, but I like the pick.

• TT: We think very versatile. We'll probably line him up as a corner. But in Dom's system they move all over the place.
  by Tom Silverstein 11:28 PM

   

  TT: For some time we've had him pretty high up on our board. The more you go bak and look and he's a good football player. You sit around and start worrying sometimes but we looked back at it and at the end of hte day if we get a good football player it doesn't matter. If you take him higher than you have to it's OK. We think we took him at a place where it's very reasonable.

   

  TT: There wasn't much conversation when it got to be our pick. Took a few calls. A couple teams wanted to move back in at the end of the rounmd. Obviously, we didn't do anything

   

  TT: We saw what we needed to see.

   

  TT: With me, I just like to get good football players. Micah has shown that's what he is. We're hopeful Demarious can be that also.

   

  TT: He played starting safety and he would have been their best corner, but their safety play is so crucial to the defense that they had to play him inside. But they played him in the slot.

He's a baller, that's what counts.  Keep your ****ing stats.

No kiddin'...

Proof that TT picks best player available. I felt a bit better when I heard he is a PR/KR.

Gil Brandt:

 

Randall's 4.46 40 was the third best among safeties at the combine, and he also posted the third-best three-cone (6.83 seconds) and tied for the third-best short shuttle (4.07 seconds). Speed might not have been as important for safeties in the days when they were mostly covering tight ends, but in today's game, safeties often end up with the third or fourth receiver, so it's crucial that they have good catch-up speed. Randall isn't really that meet-'em-in-the-hole tough tackler, but we don't need that in a safety as much as we need coverage ability, and Randall is very fluid. He was burned a bit more than you'd like to see in college, but then, that can be a job hazard of his position, which involves covering a lot of ground. He also made a lot of plays.

Mayock likes him, so I'm cool with the pick.  What I need to know is, what tier does Damarious fall into?

Worth repeating:

 

TT: We saw what we needed to see.

Just not sure who plays on the outside.  Hayward and Hyde are slot CBs and Randall sounds like one too.  I guess Dom and TT have faith that Hayward can seamlessly move to the outside but who is his backup?  Goodson?  

I can hear the phone conversation:
Other GM: "You are probably gonna turn me down on this Ted, but here is what I'm..."
TT:  (phone click) dial tone.

From back in January

it really doesn't matter where a player was picked. Just show up on Sunday and play like you mean it

 

Earlier this week

To me it doesn't [matter what round a player is taken]," Packers GM Ted Thompson said this week.

 

 

He has the size/speed for CB and I trust Joe Whitt to coach him up. Wasn't who I was expecting there especially with the names that were available to them....but you know Whitt probably likes him a lot as well. He's the one assistant on the defensive staff I have full confidence in

 

Just hope they get an ILB tomorrow

Randall ConfCall:

 

Teams were talking to him about playing him either at corner at safety, thinks he can play either

 

Didn't think GB was going to draft him at least in R1, spent a lot of time with GB, a lot of 1:1 time with a DB coach whose name he can't remember.

 

Played a lot of 0/man coverages

 

Told he was needed at safety because ASU had enough depth at CB

 

Hurt shoulder at CC, hence why he chose football over baseball, can use center field experience to play DB

 

Spoke highly of Carl Bradford (former teammate)'s character

Just like Micah turned out to be one helluva PR.

 

Athletes.  Go get the best ones.

        Sink or swim for Hayward. He has to be more than a 1 trick pony. It's a contract year so I'm guessing he learns to swim pretty quickly. Randall has 4.4 speed at just a hair under 5'11", don't know why he can't play outside either...sounds like the identical measurements to Tramon.

"Inspired effort as a tackler"

"Unselfish team-first type with ideal training habits."

 

Sounds like a guy with a really good skill set and great attitude and coachability.  This guy is as good as the coaching staff can make him. 

Wish he had a little bit more size, but then he probably would have gone earlier in the round.

McGinn had him ranked as second best safety behind Collins. His write-up from earlier this week:

2. DAMARIOUS RANDALL, Arizona State (5-11, 197, 4.41, 1-2): Played junior-college baseball for a year, hurt his shoulder and returned to football for two JC seasons. Started for Sun Devils at FS in 2013-'14. "He reminds me of Devin McCourty," one scout said. "Size is the hold-back. He's just not physical." Twelve months ago his weight was 187. "He reminds me a little bit of the guy the 49ers drafted last year (Jimmie Ward) at the bottom of the first," a second scout said. "People talk about it's a passing league and the box safety is growing out of style. He kind of fits in with the new wave of safeties who can cover receivers and are strong enough to play around the line of scrimmage. But sometimes he gambles a little too much and takes himself out of position." Finished with 177 tackles (15 for loss), six picks and 12 PBUs. Wonderlic of 18. "He's not a good tackler," a third scout said. "He doesn't break down. Just dives at people. Small-framed person. Small waist. Little bowlegged." From Pensacola, Fla.

Two years ago it was Burnett and "the Doctor" and a cast of scrubs at safety. He's slotted for a corner, but at least we have 3 safeties if needed.

 

And, importantly, we finally have a safety/CB who can cover a TE.

He's aggressive, plays with attitude and plays fast ...
Pendung Injury sounds like his only weakness.( getting it out of the way now)

If only there were a way to teach him to tackle. 

Tendency buster as he's the first defensive back under 5-11 that Ted had drafted since Marviel Underwood.

 

Randall played safety in college but in the NFL he appears to be more of a nickel back.  Ted obviously has confidence that Heyward can play outside because that's where he likely ends up now.  Randall is a natural fit in the slot and has the skills to really, really excel there.

 

The only real worry I have about Randall is that he is small.  He weighed in at 196 at the combine but his playing weight at Arizona State was generally in the low 180's.  His height is of little concern to me, but his weight and frame could be an issue.  He's just not a very big guy.

 

It also should be noted that he returned kicks/punts in JUCO.  In 2012 he returned 19 kickoffs for a 28.2 yard average and 15 punts for a 20.8 yard average

 

 

But Does he have cankles?  That's what Catts wants to know!

 

Hadn't heard anything about an injured pendung.  Sounds painfull.

 

Mike Mayock has him as the best Safety in the draft and had him going #20 to Philly in his mock.  Mayock's take:

 

"Randall is what today's free safety is all about. He is by far the best cover safety in this draft. Randall can play man-to-man; he has cornerback-level cover skills. You give up some physicality, but his coverage ability is where the NFL is going. Remember Jimmie Ward was a first-rounder last year (to the 49ers) with a similar skill set." 

Athletes with really good football instincts.

Randall just told press that 12 teams asked him about playing corner; 7 asked about safety.

Randall was a solid top 45 player.  All sorts of talk that the Bears really liked him in the second round and if he made it past them then the Vikings would be all over him.  I had him at #39 in the ranking I posted in the official draft thread.  Solid top 45 player.  Not a reach at all IMO.  To me the only thing suprising about it is that Ted picked a DB under 5-11.  But he only missed that mark by the slightest of margins and is a plus athlete, and Ted loves athletes on defense.

So Beef, how many boards did you get kick off of this so far this draft?

In TT we trust. Best GM in the game. I'll support this kid all the way.

 

 

That said, not a fan of this pick. Would've rather had Eric Rowe or Kendricks. I'm probably wrong. But that's just how I feel.

 

Go Pack

Mayock  actually played in the league. 'Nuff said

I edited this.  Found I misread the arm length.  Short arms too.  Has decent vertical I guess.

 

While I don't consider him a reach at this point, my response when selected was "Oh, um OK."  I honestly didn't expect this pick.  Before the draft, I asked for what they thought was best CB available with grade for the pick.  I apparently got it.  

 

Whitt has his project for the year in addition to Meech.