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Colts Reportedly Eyeing Arizona State Safety Damarious Randall

By Luke Schultheis

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According to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net, the Indianapolis Colts are reportedly interested in Arizona State safety Damarious Randall, and “there’s a high percentage” that the Colts will make him their selection at #29 if he’s still available:

The 5’11, 196 pound safety was originally thought to be a 2nd-3rd round draft pick, but his stock has been rising in recent weeks. NFL.com Draft Analyst Mike Mayock has called him the “best cover safety in this year’s 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.”"

Nov 22, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils defensive back Damarious Randall (3) intercepts a pass intended for Washington State Cougars wide receiver Robert Lewis (15) in the first quarter at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

While Alabama’s Landon Collins has still been widely considered the best safety prospect in this year’s draft class, there’s a strong chance he may be off the board by the time the Colts selection comes. General Manager Ryan Grigson has already said Collins “can do it all”, but perhaps that’s just a smokescreen for his real intended prize in Randall.

The Colts could certainly use a long-term answer at either starting safety position, where veteran Mike Adams just turned 34 years old and the recently signed Dwight Lowery is nothing more than a stopgap solution. With the NFL becoming mostly a passing league, a natural coverage safety like Randall could really help to shore up the back of the Colts secondary.

In fact, Grigson even noted in his pre-draft press conference that the NFL is evolving at safety, and the traditional in-the-box safeties are becoming more of a dying breed. Instead, the league has shifted its safety prototype to hybrid-cornerback/free safeties that can both run and cover like New England Patriots All-Pro safety Devin McCourty:

"“The safety position is tricky to me at least,” added Grigson. “Maybe to others, not so much, maybe it’s clearer to others, but there’s a trend for the not-so-traditional safety anymore. It’s more of a free safety type, that has cover ability, has that corner background, but a guy like Landon can do it all. You know, there’s only so many of those guys in the draft. There’s really not many.”"

That free safety trend sounds a lot like Randall. While Collins “can do it all”, Randall is even better in coverage, although he won’t necessarily provide quite the run-stuffing presence as Collins figures to. It’ll be interesting to see what the Colts would do if both Collins and Randall are on the board, but my guess is they’ll only get to choose from one of the aforementioned talented young safeties at #29.

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