Packers will make Damarious Randall trade worth it in the end.
Green Bay ended up trading its top cornerback Damarious Randall to the Cleveland Browns for quarterback DeShone Kizer and will also swap picks in the 4th and 5th rounds of the NFL draft next month according to NFL Insider Ian Rappaport on Friday. This ended up putting Green Bay’s fans into a frenzied panic. It left them wondering if this was really a good move or not. I’m here to tell you it was.
The 30th overall pick in the last year’s draft by the Packers, Randall’s career in Green Bay started off promising. He ended up playing in 15 games (9 starts), logged three INTs and 14 pass breakups in that rookie season. The following two seasons though, Randall played in a total of 24 of a possible 32 games. He battled groin and knee injuries, and in a Week 4 win over Chicago this past season, Randall was benched after an argument with an assistant coach. With the deadline for the Packers to decide whether they want to pick up his 2019 fifth-year option coming up on May 2nd, Green Bay faced a tough decision on the DB’s future. By agreeing to trade him on Friday, that choice no longer needs to be made.
This now begs the question: What do the Packers do to replace him? Do they go get a multi-positional safety//CB/ILB hybrid player like Derwin James out of Florida State? Do they get a physical, sure-handed CB in Josh Jackson out of Iowa? Finally, do they go after a CB in free agency? There are plenty of great options there as well.
There have been a few names tossed around as far as free agency goes. The top ones seem to be Aaron Colvin formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Richard Sherman formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, Malcolm Butler formerly of the New England Patriots, and finally, Trumaine Johnson formerly of the Los Angeles Rams. All of them sound like very intriguing options and all have the physical skills and hands you’d want in a CB. I would think Green Bay could possibly go get one or two in free agency and get one in the draft as well. They don’t really have a ton of depth at the position behind Randall. Now that he’s gone, they need to figure out the best way to get that depth. Using the draft and free agency could be the solution.
GM Brian Gutekunst knows that he wants to build around Aaron Rodgers as he is the focal point and cornerstone of the team and organization. Part of him being more aggressive in free agency is trying to shy away from the simple draft and develop philosophy Green Bay had under his predecessor Ted Thompson. This likely means using most, if not all of its cap space it has on key positions of need that could make an impact for them in the 2018 season.
Green Bay has roughly around $21.2M to spend in free agency as of now. Restructuring a few contracts (mainly Aaron Rodgers & Clay Matthews), could end up saving them a combined $23.4M in cap space. Rodgers and the Packers are reportedly very close to a new contract extension but will wait until Kirk Cousins’ new deal is complete before finalizing. We will see where things stand after Cousins gets his extension.
The bottom line is that Green Bay wouldn’t have gotten this trade done had it not already had a plan in mind. Randall was the top CB on the roster and for them to get rid of him without any compensation in return would be blasphemous. Brian Gutekunst has to have something big up his sleeve because this was one of the biggest shockers in free agency and Packerland thus far in the offseason. My guess is this means a premiere CB is coming to Green Bay via the draft, free agency, or both. Whether this means they sign one or two in free agency and forget the draft all together for a CB remains to be seen.
Both could be plausible options to find a suitable replacement for Randall in Green Bay. They can’t and won’t go empty handed after this trade. The remaining CBs have a combined 12 total starts (Pipkins, King, & Hawkins). A far cry from Randall, who started 30 of 39 total games while on the Packers. Gutekunst won’t let this go without getting anything in return. Expect some free agent fireworks in Green Bay in the coming months. This crazy offseason is far from over in Titletown.
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