INDIANAPOLIS _ Prospects at the NFL Combine are often asked which current pros they try to emulate in their own game. You're an edge rusher? You might say you draw a lot from Von Miller. Coverage man? Perhaps Jalen Ramsey is your ideal comparison. A safety? There are a lot worse names to drop than Tyrann Mathieu.
Isaiah Simmons gave perhaps the most unique answer in combine history to that routine question when it was posed to him on Thursday.
"The game's no longer a 250-pound linebacker," said Simmons, who weighed in at the combine at 238. "It's more guys who are able to run side to side and are able to cover. It's just a necessity now."
Simmons wore the letters "LB" on his combine-issued sweatshirt on Thursday, and he'll do his on-field workouts with the linebacker groups on Saturday night. But when asked what position he considers himself to play, he gave an answer that doesn't fit neatly onto an NFL depth chart.
"Defense," he said.
Plain and simple.
"I know years ago it wasn't good to be a positionless guy," Simmons said. "But now it's become a benefit for me just because of all the versatility I'll be able to do. Play linebacker, play safety, whatever it is, I feel like it just helps me out."
It will help out whoever selects him, if they are creative enough to embrace that versatility. Joe Judge and his think-tank Giants staff seem to be just the kind of place where that could happen. The Giants have plenty of holes to fill on defense this offseason. Why not take one player who can plug several at the same time?
The Giants also are looking for a young leader on their defense.
"Because of the way we're designed, the way we're built right now, we have very few veterans," general manager Dave Gettleman said earlier this week ... and that was before he cut two-time defensive captain Alec Ogletree on Wednesday. "We're getting 21- and 22-year-old kids. They don't know how to do their laundry, let alone lead a football team. You know what I'm saying? There are guys that are capable of it, and that's part of what we've got to do a better job of is developing those leaders. Identifying and developing leaders."
Saquon Barkley was able to bring that to the Giants' offense almost immediately after he was drafted two years ago. He was a team captain last season. Simmons might be the one who brings that element to the Giants' defense.
"I always preach to the younger guys that leadership doesn't have an age on it," Simmons said. "You don't have to be a veteran, you don't have to be a starter to be a leader. A leader is just somebody who does things in the right way, even when nobody's looking."
Plenty of people are looking at Simmons. They're wondering if he can do in the NFL what he did in college. They're contemplating how they might be able to use a self-proclaimed Swiss Army knife like him. And perhaps they're scared that they'll be left behind as this new type of hybrid defensive weapon begins to make its way to the league.
"The game is evolving," Simmons said.
He could be the next step in that trajectory.
