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Bucs Safety Phillips Working At Linebacker

Tribune file photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Jermaine Phillips is known for his physical style of play and ability to disengage from blockers.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 18, 2009

Updated: 03/18/2009 02:17 pm

TAMPA - The man the Tampa Bay Buccaneers call "Flip" is flipping positions. Once a fixture at strong safety, veteran Jermaine Phillips is suddenly a candidate to replace the departed Derrick Brooks at weakside linebacker.

"It's definitely different," Phillips said Wednesday after working out briefly at his new spot for the first time. "In a lot of ways I feel like I'm a rookie all over again."

Phillips need not feel like a newcomer. Though the position is new, the duties he'll take on as a weakside linebacker in new coordinator Jim Bates' scheme are similar to those he carried out as a safety.

In fact, it the physical style of play Phillips (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) is known for and his ability to disengage from blockers and make a play near the goal line that prompted the move in the first place.

"We felt comfortable in the fact that we did so much before in our old package with the safeties in the box that we said, 'Hey, he's done it from a safety's standpoint; let's see if he can play linebacker,' " linebackers coach Joe Barry said.

Barry called the move an experiment, saying the Bucs will use the next couple of months to decide whether Phillips can truly excel at linebacker. Phillips, however, says he's flipped the page from playing in the secondary.

"At this point, I'm looking at the switch as a switch," Phillips said. "There's still a lot for me to learn to even know what I'm doing at this position, but right now, I'm a linebacker."

The move comes less than two weeks after Phillips, who will turn 30 on March 27, re-upped with the Bucs, signing what is believed to be a one-year deal following a short run through free agency.

It wasn't just the release of Brooks that prompted the move. The Bucs have failed so far to add a potential replacement through free agency, and their next best option, Geno Hayes, is still recovering from season-ending knee injury.

No matter the reason, Phillips said he's excited about the change.

"Change is always, good," he said. "It'll keep me on my toes. Maybe now I can challenge [middle linebacker] Barrett [Ruud] for the team lead in tackles."

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