Isaiah Simmons’ versatility made him attractive to NFL scouts.
Simmons played safety, cornerback and linebacker at Clemson. He will start at linebacker in the NFL, and it’s unlikely he will spend much time in the secondary, Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said Tuesday.
But the Cardinals want to get the most out of Simmons, whom they made the eighth overall choice.
“With this kid’s skillset, he can do a lot of things,” Joseph said, via Darren Urban of the team website. “Until we touch it, until we gameplan, I can’t guarantee where he is going to be.
“If it’s a job that we think he can do, we will put him out there. That’s why he was drafted. I want Isaiah to be Isaiah.”
Simmons, though, will have an all-encompassing role as long as he can fit in particular spots. Joseph calls Simmons “an eraser when bad plays happen.”
“We are going to give him different packages and give him stuff that he is comfortable with,” Kingsbury told Mike Tirico on NBCSN’s Lunch Talk Live on Tuesday. “Having an abbreviated offseason and not seeing guys until camp, we want to make sure wherever we put him, he will play fast and use his athleticism and attack mode that he played with at Clemson.”