Another new veteran defensive back is out for the Raiders. Days after the team released cornerback Prince Amukamara, they are releasing safety Damarious Randall, according to ESPN’s Mike Garafolo.
The #Raiders are releasing veteran S Damarious Randall, sources say. The team owes him a $1.5 million fully guaranteed base salary, though that’ll be reduced by whatever he gets from his new team.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 4, 2020
Amukamara and Randall were both signed this offseason to compete for starting jobs for the Raiders. In the end, the Raiders opted to go in another direction.
Randall’s release cements Erik Harris as the starting free safety, though it had been looking and sounding like Harris was the starter prior to this. Harris had been running first team much of the time in camp.
With Randall in house, the depth at the position was great. With Johnathan Abram and Harris as the starters and Jeff Heath and Randall as depth. But depth players need to play special teams. Heath does that, Randall does not.
Also consider that having lost the starting job, often veterans who are used to being full time starters, as is the case with Randall, he would prefer to be let go to allow him to find a team on which he will be the starter.