I’ll be watching Damarious Randall this week to see how he recovers from his injuries last year.
After a promising rookie campaign, he was counted on to make a big second year jump. Injuries early on ruined that and reduced him to a shell of himself. He was relegated to playing off-man and couldn’t showcase and of the physical press coverage that made him a first round round pick.
After Shields went down, he couldn’t be counted on to pick up the slack.
There’s still no Shields, so CB1 is wide open and he should be the front runner. He looked a lot more physical and aggressive in the preseason. If he can stay healthy and keep that up, it will go a long way towards making 2017 a better year than 2016.
Russell Wilson isn’t the best passer in the game, but he’s darn good. He’s elusive, which means corners need to maintain their discipline, keep their coverage, and not get caught peeking back on a double move. His only really weakness is his height limitation, which means he has to put more loft on his balls to get over rushers. Last year, Randall took advantage of that and made a highlight film pick at the goal line, one of the only noteworthy things he did in the second half of last year.
I expect much bigger things out of him this year, starting today.