Green Bay Packers Rookie Damarious Randall Becoming Top NFL Cover Corner

In his first season after being drafted in the first round by the Green Bay Packers in May, rookie Damarious Randall is playing a position—cornerback—that he did not play in college at Arizona State. 

One might expect a transitional period for a rookie learning a new playbook and a new position, all in his first year in professional football.

But not only has Randall been performing better than expected through the first five games of 2015, he's, at this point in the year, proving to be one of the league's best cover corners, a position and skill set that can take years to hone.

On one hand, it's not a surprise that Randall, who has 205 snaps at cornerback this season, per Pro Football Focus, is excelling in Green Bay. Heading into the 2015 draft, the Arizona State product was widely regarded as the best coverage safety in this year's class.

Dane Brugler of CBS Sports called Randall "a player with cornerback size but a free safety skill set." 

"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," NFL Network's Mike Mayock wrote in his draft analysis. 

All of that has been apparent in Randall's first few games as a pro athlete. Green Bay selected him in the first round to help mitigate the losses of corners Tramon Williams and Davon House in free agency.

Though veteran Casey Hayward ultimately won the starting job on the outside in training camp, Randall has made the most of his opportunities, playing mostly in the nickel package and, less frequently, in the dime.  

In fact, studying Hayward and Randall's play this year, it seems clear that the former is better-suited to play in the slot while the latter may prove to develop into a better outside corner. 

Per Pro Football Focus, Randall has played 134 snaps in coverage through Week 5. In those snaps, he has been targeted 24 times and has allowed just nine receptions for a catch rate of 37.5 percent. Randall now has 10 total tackles on the season and five passes defended.  

He has allowed just 75 yards after the catch, better than 30 other cornerbacks in primary coverage. And opposing quarterbacks have a passer rating of just 81.3 when targeting Randall.

Overall, those factors combine to make him the ninth-best cover corner in the league currently, per Pro Football Focus, better even than his starting teammate, Sam Shields. 

Now, as with all stats, there are holes in these ones. Shields, who comes in as the No. 13 cover corner, has played 199 snaps in coverage, 65 more than Randall. Players' stats can certainly be skewed by, and end up more impressive because of, fewer snaps.  

It's also worth noting that Hayward ranks as the No. 31 corner in coverage after five weeks. 

Still, you don't have to go far to find someone impressed with Randall's play to date. He impressed Bleacher Report's own Matt Miller, who thinks he stands out among this year's rookie class. 

"He started off as good as I would hope," cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt said after the Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"We'll see how it continues. It's still early on, (but) when the ball has been thrown his way, he's made sure they haven't caught it. That's always a plus."

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers has indicated that the better Randall plays, the more snaps he will receive, and so far, he's stuck to his word.

Randall is averaging 41 snaps per game, per Pro Football Focus, but after receiving just 14 snaps against Seattle, where he shut down Jermaine Kearse when he was targeted in his coverage, per Pro Football Focus and had a pass defended, the rookie had 55 snaps the following week against Kansas City. 

One of the most iconic moments of his young career was captured on the Packers' Instagram account in that game, when Randall laid a punishing hit on Kansas City's Charcandrick West. 

Randall is showing traits of being a physical enforcer that were not part of his draft profile. 

"I think the first two games, Randall has risen to the occasion when he's been challenged," Capers said, per Silverstein. "Normally, a guy does that you're going to see him play a little bit more and a little bit more. There's a reason why we drafted him."

Randall got a huge vote of confidence in Week 5 against the St. Louis Rams when he started outside at left cornerback opposite Shields in the Packers' first two defensive series with Hayward in the slot. However, even though it was a start, it came in the nickel group. What will really be indicative of Randall's development is if he earns a start over Hayward in the Packers base defense this season. 

If he keeps putting this level of play on the field, that moment may come before too long.