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- Mar 19, 2019
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The Miami makeover will include plenty of draft picks, but it already has consisted of plenty of free agents. The Dolphins have added 10 unrestricted free agents in the past two weeks, and there’s one word that characterizes many of them.
Versatility.
Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald makes the connection, drawing quotes form various new Dolphins regarding their ability to play in multiple spots.
“I feel like my versatility will be able to be a matchup problem for any coach because you never know where I’m going to line up and match up against,” linebacker Kyle Van Noy said, via Salguero.
“I feel [and] envision that I’ll be playing everywhere like I have been. I’ve said it before — I don’t really consider myself having a position. I don’t really like that. I don’t like being called a d-end or a linebacker or anything. I’m just a football player. You roll the ball out onto the field, I’m there. I’m showing up. That’s my job and I’m going to be about it all the time.”
Versatility has long been a staple of the Patriot Way, with players on both sides of the ball who can play multiple positions so that the offense can slip into a hurry-up pace while having the opposing defense trapped in an unfavorable package and the defense able to shift and adjust and ultimately confuse the opposing defense. Coach Brian Flores, a longtime assistance coach in New England, seems to be laying the foundation for a similar approach.
Other new arrivals who are versatile include defensive linemen Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah and offensive linemen Ted Karras and Ereck Flowers.
Look for the Dolphins to be looking for rookies who will be able and willing to do the same thing, as Flores hopes to have a team that can be readily adapted to a broad range of circumstances.