Damarious Randall to Green Bay Packers: Full Draft-Pick Breakdown

On paper, this might be the most shocking selection in the draft class. The Green Bay Packers drafted Ha Ha Clinton-Dix as a free safety in the first round just last season, after a drought at the position following the injury to Nick Collins.

With the TV broadcast backed up a couple of selections, a certain safety prospect tweeted out "Green Bay .." with three face emojis.

Damarious Randall, a junior college transfer, played safety his entire career at Arizona State. One would guess that he would get time next to Clinton-Dix, but the Packers' strong safety, Morgan Burnett, signed a four-year deal with the squad in the summer of 2013.

Unless Dom Capers wants to run heavy three-safety defensive looks, which is up his alley, then it wouldn't make sense to see Randall as a back-end player. The Arizona Cardinals drafted a safety last season, Deone Bucannon of Washington State, to play a third safety role, but that pick was also a large question mark at the time.

To truly understand how Randall might be used, we must look into his background. Out of high school, he was first a baseball player at Butler Community College. After a shoulder injury hindered his baseball career, he made the flip to the football.

That in itself is a worry to me. Not reaching the 5'11" flat mark at the combine, and coming in at just 196 pounds, a shoulder injury in the past of a small defensive back isn't good. Because of the NFL's rule changes, defensive backs now have to rely on that shoulder as their only legal shock pad.

For example, Jason Verrett of TCU, a small corner, had a shoulder issues in college. He was selected in the first round by the Chargers last season, and after four starts, his year was ended due to his left shoulder acting up.

This seems to be a reoccurring theme with small defensive backs. Because their strike zone is small, as helmet shots are banned from the sport, that is the only way for them to efficiently tackle. Green Bay's medical staff has taken injury-concern players early, though.

Justin Harrell was a defensive tackle with a bad back out of the University of Tennessee. He was picked by the squad with the 16th overall pick in 2007. For general manager Ted Thompson's sake, I hope Randall's career finishes better than Harrell's, who was out of the league after he started just two games.

After his stint with baseball, Randall moved on to Mesa Community College, where he played safety, cornerback and wide receiver. This is where the pick gets interesting.

The Packers badly need a boundary cornerback after Tramon Williams and Davon House left in free agency, to Cleveland and Jacksonville, respectively. Did Green Bay dig all the way through Randall's junior college tape to evaluate him as an outside corner?

Other than Sam Shields, Demetri Goodson, a second-year player who has virtually no NFL experience, is the only boundary cornerback left on the roster. Micah Hyde and Casey Hayward are solid slot cornerbacks but lack the deep speed to play on an island, as Capers loves to throw his corners into the fire on game day.

The other note I would point out about Randall is that the defense Arizona State ran was unique. It didn't have a high safety (free) and a low safety (strong) like most college teams do. Instead, it had a boundary and field safety.

Boundary means the short side of the field, while field is toward the longer side. With longer hash marks at the college level, plus facing Pac-12 offenses that are heavily based in spread sets, he did get some looks where he performed like an outside cornerback.

There's a part of me that thinks he might get a look as a third safety, but Thompson rarely drafts non-premier position players early, especially ones who are limited to such a specific role. The same can be said with Randall's potential as a slot cornerback, especially with Hyde and Hayward on the roster.

At the end of the day, Thompson and Co. are some of the best drafters in the NFL. Years ago, people made noise about him drafting a little-known cornerback from Bethune-Cookman. His name was Nick Collins, and he converted to free safety, where he made three Pro Bowls.

Randall may take the opposite route, moving from safety to cornerback in the pros. At least on the surface, it's the only narrative that makes sense. Aaron Nagler of Sports Illustrated has since confirmed this theory.