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The New Orleans Saints said they envisioned rookie Khairi Fortt playing inside linebacker immediately after drafting him in May. But recently, he's been spending the majority of his snaps on the outside.

On Monday, the Saints changed his position from inside linebacker to outside linebacker on their official roster. However, it's not the cut and dry switch the roster makes it out to be.

The Saints don't stick to traditional 4-3 or 3-4 formations, or even one formation that all. Depending on the day, the Saints could see equal times with both three and four man fronts, which puts a lot of responsibility on their front seven to be versatile.

That trickles down from the defensive line to the linebackers.

For a young player like Fortt, seeing what he can do at multiple positions is priority number one for the coaches at this point.

"With us, you've got to have that position flexibility, especially for a young guy," said Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. "He's a smart guy, he can learn two positions. So we've got him playing inside and outside."

Fortt was primarily the weakside linebacker in Cal's 4-3 defense during his college days. But he's spent enough time in both 4-3 and 4-3 systems that neither presents an overt shift for him.

"The 4-3 defense and a 3-4 kind of overlap with these over and under defenses," Fortt said in May. "During half the season at Cal we were still in a 3-4 where our Sam (strongside linebacker) was on the line and our two Mike (middle) and Will (weakside) backers were the inside players."

Ryan said one of Fortt's strengths is his ability to rush the passer, something he thinks they can utilize by putting him outside.

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Rugby Saint II

Payton sure loves players with versatility. Most rugby players play several different positions.

hagan714

I am watching praying and hoping.

homerj07

Always need versatile players defense and offense.

Utah_Saint

I'm disappointed. I was hoping Fortt would eventually push Hawthorne and Lofton. They represent a lot of money against the salary cap next season.

NonieT

How do you know he won't? They said he could play either inside or outside and we also have Reddick.

SmashMouth

Utah_Saint

You're right. There's nothing saying he can't still be competition for the inside spots too.

dizzle88

Don't forget Ramon Humber either, he had a tremendous preseason last year and got in the lineup on running downs