The Green Bay Packers caused more than a few raised eyebrows when they made Damarious Randall, the former Arizona State safety, their first-round pick on Thursday night.
Only one year after spending a first-round pick on free safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Packers GM Ted Thompson seemingly went out and spent another high pick on a player expected to fill a very similar role at the NFL level.
Thompson, though, assuaged those fears after the pick, claiming that Randall will - for now at least - start his professional career as a cornerback.
Could Thompson potentially be wasting Randall's talent by forcing him to switch positions or is Randall's smaller stature and lack of physicality really cause for a move?
"Size is the holdback. He's just not physical. He reminds me of Devin McCourty," an unnamed NFC scout told Bob McGinn of JSOnline.com. "He played corner his first year or two in the league. This kid never played corner. He's a baseball player. Got drafted, went to the minor leagues and went to junior college because he hurt his shoulder. He was standing on the chain gang at a football game when he looked out and said, 'I'm better than these guys.' So the coach let him play. He's smart enough."
McCourty, of course, is the New England Patriots free safety, drafted by Bill Belichick out of Rutgers as a corner. McCourty spent two seasons and part of a third at cornerback before being switched to safety full-time due to lack of depth in the Pats secondary.
Since the 2013 move, McCourty has become one of the best centerfielder safeties in the NFL.
Randall and McCourty certainly share similarities - both are around 5-foot-10 and just under 200-pounds, both were selected in the latter portion of round-one and both bring certain versatility to the back-end of an NFL defense.
While Randall certainly would seem to have the toughness and competitive demeanor to survive at safety, his perfect NFL home may actually be corner - a position he supposedly would have played in college had the Sun Devils had further reinforcements.
"He's a corner. He can't play safety because he doesn't tackle that well. Good athlete. He played safety for them just because they had a need there," an AFC scout told McGinn. "He is not a big person. He's not a good tackler. He doesn't break down; he just dives at people. He worked out as a corner and he's quick."
While the Packers believed in Randall enough to make him a late first-round pick - after entertaining several trade offers that ultimately came up short, per Thompson - that very AFC scout claimed that Randall should have been a fifth-round pick.
Of course, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder when it comes to the NFL draft, so it's no surprise that there are differing opinions on where a late first-rounder should have gone.
If Thompson and defensive coordinator Dom Capers believe Randall's NFL future is at corner, there's nothing fans of the Pack can do but give them the benefit of the doubt.
Whether or not it pans out as they hope though, remains to be seen.
