Insider: Why the Colts have so many rookies making position changes in NFL

INDIANAPOLIS — Jason Bean still sees himself as a quarterback.

That’s the position Bean played at Kansas, the position where he helped lead the Jayhawks from an afterthought to an aggressor in the Big 12 Conference under Lance Leipold.

Nearly all of Bean’s pre-draft workouts were at the quarterback position, and he wore the red non-contact jersey during the Colts rookie minicamp last weekend.

He’s also an undrafted free agent trying to carve out a place in the NFL, and the Colts have him listed at two positions: quarterback and wide receiver.

Bean has never played wide receiver. Not at any level.

“For my mindset, I feel like I’m a quarterback,” Bean said. “But I’m very willing to do whatever they want me to do.”

The Colts spent the final day of the draft acquiring a lot of players like Bean, players the team believes might be a better fit at a different position than the one on their draft profile.

Beyond Bean, Indianapolis drafted Missouri defensive back Jaylon Carlies to be a linebacker, took Auburn safety Jaylin Simpson with the intent of moving him back to cornerback and gave undrafted free agent tight end Trent Pennix $10,000 in guarantees to play running back at the NFL level.

Colts news: Undrafted Colts RB Trent Pennix, a converted tight end, plays for brother he never met

“Teams were looking at me as a fullback and an H-back, kind of a hybrid guy,” Pennix said. “The Colts were the only team that was offering me to play as a running back.”

The thinking behind the positional changes is simple.

“We’re always asking the question,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said. “How is this guy getting to Sunday?”

'You’ve got to have some versatility'

Indianapolis has long looked for players who have the athletic ability to change positions, either at the college or NFL levels.

In Ballard’s eyes, a big college defensive end like Dayo Odeyingbo or Tyquan Lewis is an excellent candidate to rush from the defensive tackle position in the NFL. A college offensive tackle like Will Fries or Danny Pinter can play inside in Indianapolis.

The philosophy is far from foolproof. For every player like Odeyingbo or Fries, there are stories like Ben Banogu and Marvell Tell III, players whose transitions to a different position either turned out to be fool’s gold (Banogu) or didn’t lead to a lasting career (Tell).

But the philosophy behind those moves remains the same. Versatility and athleticism rules in the NFL.

“You’re dressing 48 guys, eight linemen,” Ballard said. “If you draft an offensive lineman to just play one position, unless you’re the starter, it makes it very difficult. You need to have guy that can play both tackle spots, a guy that can play both guard spots and really, two more guys that can snap the football. I think it’s the same thing in any position.”

Indianapolis used picks on two offensive linemen in April’s draft, Pittsburgh’s Matt Goncalves and Wisconsin’s Tanor Bortolini.

Both players can play more than one position.

“You’ve got to have some versatility to be able to play multiple spots,” Ballard said. “We kind of try to do that as much as we can every year, but this year is a little unusual in that (the Colts drafted so many players with positional versatility).”

Colts look for incredible athletic traits

The Indianapolis approach to flexibility goes beyond the demands of the active roster.

Ballard has a history of drafting players who’ve already made positional switches in college. Left tackle Bernhard Raiman began his career as a tight end, linebacker E.J. Speed was initially a wide receiver at Tarleton State, tight end Jelani Woods played quarterback.

The reason is obvious.

Under Ballard, the Colts value athleticism, and players who have shifted from one spot to another are more likely to possess incredible athletic traits.

“The way we scout, it’s based on traits,” assistant general manager Ed Dodds said. “We look at traits first.”

Carlies might be the best example this offseason.

Long and rangy, Carlies began his career at Missouri as a cornerback, then moved to safety, but his frame — 6-3, 227 pounds, with 34 1/2-inch arms, incredibly long — reminded Indianapolis of Speed.

The Colts believe the coaching staff can teach Carlies to do the stuff he wasn’t asked to do at safety.

“Being around a guy like (linebackers coach) Richard Smith, if (a player) can pass drop and understand pass coverage, he will get him to use his hands, he’ll get him to play the run, he’ll get to be physical,” defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. “The tougher part is the change in direction, understand pass concepts. With knowing that for years now, we have looked at safeties (to play linebacker).”

Simpson, on the other hand, was the opposite.

Auburn moved Simpson from cornerback to safety.

Indianapolis is moving him back.

“He’s got ball skills, he’s got speed, and he’s got the hips you want at corner,” Dodds said. “He’s got a slighter frame, so we said ‘Safety, he’s going to need to put some bulk on. …’ We think he can play corner and help us there.”

'Just trying to make that 53-man roster'

If Bean ends up making the move to wide receiver, he’d be the latest in a long line of athletic college quarterbacks who made an impact as a receiver and return man at the next level, joining names like Antwaan Randle El, Brad Smith and Julian Edelman, among others.

Bean, like those players, has a history of making plays with his feet, averaging 5.1 yards per carry over the course of his time at Kansas.

“Again, traits, right?” Dodds said. “He’s long, he’s fast, he’s faster than what his recorded 40 times is. You felt it on one play (in rookie minicamp), he went down the sideline. The more things they can do… He’s going to do some different stuff for us, too.”

What that stuff might be remains a secret, the same way that the Indianapolis vision for Pennix as a running back remains a little bit vague.

“Well, you know I can’t tell you that,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said with a smile at rookie minicamp. “Obviously, we’ll have to keep diving into it and see how we can use them.”

Bean would love to stick at quarterback. But he cares more about sticking in the NFL.

“I’m just trying to make that 53-man roster,” Bean said. “Whatever’s going to get me there, I’m going to do.”

The more a player can do, the more chances he has to reach his ultimate goal.

Making the roster when training camp comes to an end.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why the Colts have so many rookies making position changes in NFL