A few months ago, few saw Arizona State safety Damarious Randall as a first-round pick. But with the first round almost upon us, it’s now widely believed that Randall’s name will be called on Thursday night.

Mike Mayock of NFL Network said that heading into the Senior Bowl, no one was quite sure what to make of Randall. But his play there led teams to take notice of how well he fits into what today’s NFL defenses seek from the safety position.

“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.”

Early in the draft process, Collins was widely viewed as the best safety in the class. But while Collins may have been a better college safety, Randall seems to be the better fit for the NFL.

“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.”

From all indications, NFL teams think there’s first-round value in what Randall can bring to a defense.

Michael David Smith  wrote:

How does someone go from a 3rd to 4th round projection to 1st first round projection after the games were not being played?

Originally Posted by: MintBaconDrivel 

No surprise here but a scout said he liked Randall as a nickel. Also likes Hyde and Hayward as nickels.

Fans won’t get excited, but Randall is a hell of a gunner on punt coverage. Doesn’t just get down the field, forced a turnover vs. Stanford.

I keep noticing that when Damarious Randall played in the slot, other teams seemed to target him. Happened vs. USC and Stanford especially.

I thought we needed a CB not a safety, but you know Uncle Teddy aka master of the 1st round bust, thinks he can be a cover corner. Lets see as a safety you usually cover a TE or RB not a WR. NFL QBs will be licking their chops when they get that matchup. Look how when we line Cobb up in the backfield, it is to get him matched up against a LB or Safety which is a huge mismatch. Well atleast we won't have to worry about the heartbreak of a Championship fail because we won't even make the playoffs. I'll go on record and say 7-9 or worse this year. BTW anyone notice we play Gurley in one week and then the following week we get Gordon 🙂



More and more I read on this kid it sounds like we used a 1st round pick on Jarret Bush lol

Originally Posted by: dhazer