Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim: Arizona State’s Damarious Randall ‘is a guy who we really like’

Few players seem to have risen up the draft boards as quickly and sharply as Arizona State safety Damarious Randall.

NFL.com’s Mike Mayock ranks him as the top safety in the draft.

But that’s what happens when you record a 4.46 40-yard dash time along with a 38-inch vertical jump as well as other very impressive numbers at the NFL Draft Combine.

Once projected to be a second-day pick, many now see the former Sun Devil being among those taken in the first-round Thursday night.

Might one of those teams be the Arizona Cardinals? They are set to pick 24th, and say what they’ve seen of Randall matches up with the hype he’s receiving.

“Yeah, and the thing about him is his strength could be his versatility,” Cardinals GM Steve Keim said. “He can play inside, he can play out, he can play nickel. We think he can be a perimeter corner for you.

“The testing this spring was outstanding. His movement skills, his athleticism, he’s a physical player for his size, he’s a really good tackler in space. So he’s a guy who we really like.”

Randall measures in at 5-foot-11 and 196-pounds, and in two seasons in Tempe tallied 177 tackles and six interceptions, two of which he returned for scores. His tendency to look for the big play at times led to him being burned, but he was one of the best defensive backs in the Pac-12 last season, when he was selected first-team All-Pac-12.