WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Positional versatility can be a blessing for an NFL player. It can keep him in the league because with roster spots at a premium, coaches value players who can handle a variety of roles in a pinch.
It can also be a curse. Versatility can keep a player out of the starting lineup regularly because he never gets to settle in or compete at a single spot.
New York Giants safety Ar’Darius Washington has walked that tightrope during his career.
A collegiate safety at TCU, Washington’s
NFL career got off to a slow start.
Washington went undrafted in 2021, but landed with the Baltimore Ravens. He played in three games before going on injured reserve with a foot injury. He spent most of 2022 on the Ravens’ practice squad, appearing in three games. In 2023, he landed on IR with a chest injury after only two games. Baltimore activated him off IR for the playoffs.
During that time, Washington was learning multiple roles on defense and special teams. Whether he liked it or not.
“Sometime early on in my career, I wasn’t understanding that,” Washington said during a 1-on-1 interview recently. “I felt like, man, I just want to play one position and just learn that one thing. But the more you can do, the more you can get on the field. You know what I mean? So playing nickel, safety, sometimes dime even. So playing all those positions, you know, you can always be versatile. You can always be on the field.
“So as I got later in my career, I was like, okay, so they can use me in many different places.”
Giants’ defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Donald D’Alesio was with Washington in Baltimore last season. He smiled when asked about Washington during minicamp, and called him “a chess piece.”
“He’s gonna play safety, he’s gonna play nickel, he can play dime if we need him to,” D’Alesio said. “That’s the beautiful thing about Ar’Darius. In a pinch, he can go play any position on the back end that we would need him to.
“His mind’s kinda wired that way. He’s been in the system, obviously, for a number of years. So, that’s how we see Ar’Darius. He’s going to play where we need him to play, when we need to.”
The Giants have used Washington in multiple roles already this summer, and he has often been on the field with the first-team defense.
If he could choose one position, Washington said it would “definitely” be safety.
“I like safety a lot,” he said. “I feel like I make a lot of plays and communicate out there, and I can see things from a different angle than some might, and so I feel like I can help everybody when I’m at safety.”
With nickel cornerback Dru Phillips currently sidelined with what head coach John Harbaugh termed “a mild knee sprain”, Washington is likely to be the first option to fill that spot.
Washington’s best season was 2024, his only fully healthy one in the NFL. He appeared in all 17 games for the Ravens, starting 10. He played 469 snaps at free safety, 177 in the box, and 166 as the slot cornerback. At 5-foot-8, 177 pounds, he even played 13 snaps at linebacker.
Last season, Washington tore his Achilles tendon in May, but returned for the final four games of the regular season.
Now, Washington is one of a handful of former Ravens who have followed head coach John Harbaugh from Baltimore.
“I know what Coach is all about,” Washington said. “Sometimes you go into a new system, and you don’t understand the coaches and everything like that.
“But hey, I know what Coach is all about, and he’s all about winning. So he wanted me to come over here and help bring that culture over here and win. So that’s why I was like, you know what? It doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Let’s do it.“
