Roundup: Damarious Randall re-signs with Seahawks, moving back to cornerback

Damarious Randall’s winding year in football has finally found some stability.

The former first-round pick has re-signed with the Seattle Seahawks, the team announced.

Randall joined Seattle following a tumultuous nine months in which the Browns allowed him to walk in free agency. Randall’s unemployment lasted nearly an entire month before he found a new team, the Raiders, with whom he signed a one-year deal. Randall didn’t make it out of camp, though, being released in early September.

Later in the month, he joined Seattle’s practice squad and was twice elevated, appearing in a total of 10 games for a Seahawks secondary that suffered multiple significant injuries.

The interesting part about Randall’s re-signing and the team’s announcement was the inclusion of a key detail: Seattle plans to move Randall back to cornerback, the position he played in his first three NFL seasons with the Packers. Randall was a solid corner in Green Bay, but much was made of his shift to safety — the position he played in college at Arizona State — when he was traded to the Browns.

At first, it appeared to be a wise coaching move. Randall flourished in his first season in Cleveland, intercepting four passes, recording nine passes defensed and finishing with a career-high 85 tackles. His play was such an improvement from Cleveland’s previous safeties, fans were clamoring for a long-term extension for Randall.

Instead, Cleveland decided to let Randall play out the length of his existing deal. Once seen as a strength in the back end of Cleveland’s secondary, Randall became somewhat of a nonfactor in the Browns’ nightmarish 2019 season. He battled through injuries to appear in 11 games, most memorably taking an ugly pursuit angle toward 49ers running back Matt Breida on what ended up being an 83-yard touchdown run witnessed by the entire nation onMonday Night Football. The score captured Cleveland’s disappointing campaign in one play, and helped explain Randall’s departure at the end of the year.

It will be very interesting to see whether he can return to his production level from Green Bay. His final season with the Packers mirrored his first in Cleveland statistically, and Randall’s shift to corner gives Seattle depth at the position. We’ll see if it works out.

Here is other news Around The NFL is monitoring on Friday:

• The Chicago Bears re-signed defensive back Michael Joseph to a one-year contract. The former undrafted free agent missed all of last season while on injured reserve and the reserve/COVID-19 list.
• The Bengals hired Louie Cioffi as defensive quality control coach. He has 22 years of NFL coaching experience, including 14 with Cincinnati (1997-2010).
• The Jaguars re-signed defensive tackle Daniel Ross. He played in five games last year (three with Jacksonville, two with the Raiders) and recorded eight tackles.
• Ball State cornerback Antonio Phillips, who didn’t work out at his pro day Friday, underwent a microdiscectomy on March 17, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported per Phillips’ agent. Phillips was given a recovery timeline of six weeks.

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