Cleveland Browns: Damarious Randall is a ‘ball-hawk’ says teammate

Second-year safety Jabrill Peppers is quickly becoming a fan of one of the Cleveland Browns offseason pick ups, defensive back Damarious Randall

OTAs may not mean a ton as it’s just practice in shorts, but it does afford a good opportunity for some of the new players to get acquainted with their teammates. For the Cleveland Browns, there are a lot of new players.

With much of the attention going to the new offensive weapons, there are a couple players on defense that are expected to be contributors in 2018.

One such player is defensive back Damarious Randall, who was picked up in a trade with the Green Bay Packers. He will move from corner to safety and has gotten the attention of Jabrill Peppers, who should be starting alongside Randall.

"“He’s a ball-hawk. I actually went home and watched a couple of his highlights,” Peppers said via Patrick Maks of the team’s official website. “I didn’t know he had 10 picks (in three seasons), so that’s definitely one of the things that stood out, especially a safety playing corner.”"

Originally a first-round pick out of Arizona State University, the Packers moved Randall to corner from safety as they tried to take advantage of his coverage skills.

Randall was never a bad player, but it wasn’t his natural position so there were times he struggled. He still posted a respectable 70.9 grade according to Pro Football Focus, and as Peppers pointed out he did create several turnovers at the position.

In 2017, Randall posted a career-high four picks and ran one back for a touchdown. Putting him back to a centerfield role could help him make even more impact plays going forward.

Next: Taking stock of the wide receivers

As a free safety with the Sun Devils, Randall had three picks in each of his only two seasons with the club. He totaled 177 tackles, with 106 coming in his senior season.