Deone Bucannon talks importance of versatility

Versatility is an important tool for an athlete to have.

Being able to do more than what one position requires can give a team a huge advantage.

Take Cardinals safety Deone Bucannon for example.

The Cardinals 2014 first round pick came into the league as a safety, but also played linebacker last season. His display of unique talent, plus his willingness to go outside of his comfort zone by playing a new position, allowed the team to be even more creative on defense then they already were.

Bucannon was on the Burns & Gambo show of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and discussed what it’s like to play two different positions on defense.

“The more versatile a player is to a team the more valuable he can be,” Bucannon said. “I am going to embrace that I am versatile and I can be in a lot of different positions, I’ll be rushing off the edge, playing the true linebacker position and playing safety. I am excited about it and whatever they have planned for me.”

While Bucannon has the team first mind-set and will play wherever the coaches put him, he does prefer safety to linebacker.

“I love safety because that is what I have been playing my whole life,” Bucannon said. “You got a lot of time to diagnose a play and after you diagnose it, you have to be more athletic and you have more opportunity to make more plays.

“After playing linebacker last year it gave me a lot more respect for linebackers because they have a short amount of time to diagnose a play. I have been seeing linebackers and they diagnose it so quickly and make the play before anyone knows it, so that made such a whole new respect from me.”

Bucannon thrived in his role last season and earned a spot on the PFWA All-Rookie team as a safety, finishing with 75 tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss, two passes defensed, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.

Outside of putting up strong statistical numbers, Bucannon also had a role in making key plays at big points of games.

The one that stands out the most is perhaps his tackle on Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray. On 4th-and-1 at the Cardinals 37-yard line Bucannon came from the edge and stuffed the runner for no gain, turning the ball back over to the Cardinals with the team clinging to a four point lead in the fourth quarter.

The Cards seized the momentum and the game.

It was just one of many strong plays that Bucannon had during his rookie campaign, a season which he learned a lot not only on the field, but off the field as well.

“When you are a rookie it’s all back-to-back-to-back and the season gets long,” Bucannon noted. “Essentially you are playing two seasons back-to-back.

“You play your college season then you go straight into training for the NFL Draft, then the combine, then the draft going on visits getting fat, then you hit the season. After the season that is really after 16, 17 games and college is only 12 games, so you are playing more games and towards the end of the season you catch yourself, you are getting a little tired. I started watching the vets and saw what they did to take care of their body and that is a little thing I picked up on at the end of the year.

Bucannon is expected to continue his hybrid role on defense this season, playing both the linebacker and safety position.