ASU’s Damarious Randall Is Mike Mayock’s Top Cover Safety
It’s not a secret that the 2015 NFL Draft class isn’t exactly the best we’ve ever seen when it comes to the safety position. In fact, there might not be a first round pick among the entire group.
Or, one or two might just sneak in there, but it would be at least a bit of a surprise at this point.
One such player that could sneak into the first round is Arizona State’s Damarious Randall, who’s been receiving a lot of positive hype lately, balanced out really well by detractors who really don’t like him as a prospect. The first round hype around Randall appears to be very real, and that was backed up by NFL Network draft analyst and defensive backs expert Mike Mayock labeling Randall his best cover safety in the entire draft.
“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, and he’s going ahead of Landon Collins because Collins is more of a box safety or a dime linebacker.”
Mayock is right on all accounts here, as Collins is expected to fall due to being more one-dimensional in terms of his coverage abilities, and what I saw out of Randall is consistent with what Mayock is saying — the guy can flat-out get after the football.
The NFL Mocks staff had a little debate about Randall recently.
What many dislike about Randall is the fact that he’s not overly disciplined in his ability to tackle, though he was always willing to stick his body in there and make plays. He is a transfer to Arizona State who only has two years of D1 football under his belt, and the playmaking ability he displayed is something that NFL teams covet.
Randall has range, and he can hit, he just needs to learn how to corral his aggressive style of play into an energy that can be used as a weapon for him rather than against.
When you look at what happened in last year’s draft with a similarly ‘weak’ class of safeties, it wouldn’t surprise me to see teams reach a little bit to get a guy like Randall that can attack the football and cover so much ground. Not only that, but he can be a key special teams player right away and return kicks.
This is a talented athlete, he’s just a guy that needs some coaching up. NFL teams see that potential and obviously Mayock sees it enough to make him the top safety on the board.