SS Jermaine Phillips is one of the hardest-hitting safeties around. We might soon find out whether his fierce playing style will make him a good linebacker.

Phillips told the team's website he will give weak-side linebacker a try this offseason, a move that would be a dramatic shift from playing in the secondary.

It's not uncommon for players to change positions in the NFL, but those changes are typically made within the same unit. This move would be much more involved. But Phillips says he's game.

"I'd never played linebacker before, and I told them I'll never know
how effective I'm going to be at the position or how fun it will be for
me unless I try it," Phillips told buccaneers.com. "So, I told them I was willing to give it a try and
we'll see how it goes. I know there's a lot more hitting up there and I
like to hit, so let's work out and see what happens."

Phillips said coach Raheem Morris approached him with the idea. Perhaps it's a recognition of the team's lack of depth and experience at linebacker after the release of Derrick Brooks and Cato June last month. The Bucs are negotiating with Buffalo free agent Angelo Crowell, but they haven't addressed the position thus far in free agency.

In the story, linebackers coach Joe Barry expressed confidence about Phillips' chances for success in the move.

"In his career here, he has played so frequently in the box, as a man
defender, a zone defender, a blitzer," Barry said. "You can go over the tape from his years here and find numerous
examples of him blowing up fullbacks and using his hands and taking on
guards and shedding off linemen and making tackles.

"When you
move a defensive back to linebacker, people can be a little leery about
the physical aspect of it, the physical part of the game, and that's
what Jermaine is. Jermaine's a hitter. He's a physical presence on the
field. That's the first thing you have to answer when you move a safety
to linebacker: 'Can he physically hold up? Can he physically do it?'
Just from his style of play, I say, yes."

My take on this is that it's just an experiment and not something that's set in stone. But it sure can't hurt to try.