Mike Mayock on Damarious Randall, Johnathan Abram

Las Vegas Raiders general manager Mike Mayock discusses how Damarious Randall and Johnathan Abrams complement each other.

Just recently, Raider Maven looked at a prediction made on NFL.com that Johnathan Abram would be a first-time Pro Bowler for the Raiders this season. Coming off a rookie season that was ruined by an injury in the season opener, it's a testament to Abram's talent that he wouldn't be forgotten after a year of rookie breakouts from the likes of Josh Jacobs and Maxx Crosby.

Of course, it helps if you have the right teammates around you, and according to Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock, the Raiders had done just that when they signed free agent safeties Damarious Randall and Jeff Heath. It's Randall's potential fit with Abram, in particular, that has Mayock excited.

In an interview, Mayock said, "When I was back in television, doing the draft rankings and everything, I had [Damarious Randall] ranked as the No. 1 free safety coming out of college football that year. He played a lot of corner and people were split on where he should play in the NFL. When I called him for the first time in the offseason about signing him as a free agent, the first thing I did was remind him to go check my old college ranking and see where I had him. He started laughing and said: 'Mayock, I know exactly where you had me, that's why we're on the phone right now."

It wasn't just that he had ranked Randall highly coming out of college, of course. When it comes to his fit with Abram, Mayock said: What I believe is that he could be a wonderful complement to John Abram. We're going to pair [Abram] with Damarious and Erik Harris, and we think Damarious can bring some athletic ability where he can drop down and cover the slot. So, we think there's a potential pairing there that could be exciting, but don't forget about Erik Harris, he's played some good football for us. We signed Jeff Heath who started for the Dallas Cowboys, so again, this is all about creating competition throughout our team and especially on defense."

More competition is never a bad thing, especially when it comes to shoring up the back end of the Raiders defense. It'll likely need to be a team effort, but Abram and Randall's combination, if they can gel, might give the Raiders the highest possible ceiling that they'll have at the safety position. 

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